Conservative media sometimes blame the problem of the unvaccinated on people of color, but the data show vaccine resistance is mostly about red America and younger adults now.
By the numbers: 59% of the unvaccinated are Republicans, 64% are white and 46% have a high school education or less. More than half of the unvaccinated live in suburbs with another 27% living in rural areas.
By contrast, 14% are Black, 16% are Hispanic, and 27% live in cities.
Between the lines: These unvaccinated adults tend towards COVID denialism and often see their decision not to get the vaccination as an expression of their personal freedom.
When they do get vaccinated, persuasion and information are not moving them nearly as much as seeing family members, friends and neighbors get sick, go to the hospital, and die, and seeing local news reports about their local hospitals overwhelmed with COVID patients.
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The bottom line: Equity requires a continuing heavy emphasis on vaccination in communities of color where there is a disproportionate risk for bad outcomes from infection with COVID and historical structural inequities.
However, if the vaccination effort is to go where the bulk of the problem is, that’s now mostly red America, younger adults and their children.
