Licensed vocational nurse Joselito Florendo administers the COVID-19 vaccine to Michael Chesler at a mass vaccination site set up in the parking lot of Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., on Jan. 22, 2021. (Jae C. Hong/AP)
Southern, Western State Residents Less Willing to Get COVID-19 Vaccine, Survey Shows
More than a third of respondents in states such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Idaho said they are not likely to get vaccinated when they are able, according to Census Bureau data.
By Elliott Davis Staff Writer • Feb. 10, 2021, at 9:58 a.m.
High percentages of Americans in some Southern and Western states say they will either probably not or definitely not get a COVID-19 vaccine when it is available to them, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Data released in late January through the bureau's biweekly Household Pulse Survey and analyzed by U.S. News shows that more than a third of respondents in Louisiana, Mississippi, Idaho, Alabama, Wyoming, Montana and South Carolina are not likely – either definitely not or probably not – to get the vaccine. Overall, more than half – 51% – of those surveyed in the U.S. said they will definitely get vaccinated when possible.
The survey is designed to collect data on how people's lives have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Census Bureau, and the most recent information came from responses collected Jan. 6-18. The third and most recent phase of the project included a new series of questions about COVID-19 vaccinations.
Nearly 40% of respondents in Louisiana will either definitely not or probably not get vaccinated – by far the highest rate among states. More than 17% of those surveyed in the state said they will definitely not get a COVID-19 vaccine, which was the highest percentage for that response. Indiana (17%) and Montana (16.7%) had the next highest rates of respondents who said they will definitely not get vaccinated.
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On the other end of the spectrum, Rhode Island had the highest percentage of respondents – 88% – who said they will either probably or definitely get a vaccine when it is available. People surveyed in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Washington, Delaware and New Hampshire had similarly high rates. Nearly 65% of respondents in Washington, D.C., said they would definitely get vaccinated when possible – the highest percentage for the "definitely" response in the survey.
Vaccination rollout data shows, however, that attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine do not necessarily reflect how states are faring. About 3.8% of people in Louisiana have received both doses of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as of Feb. 8 – one of the higher rates among states, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data compiled and analyzed by USAFacts. And about 30% of survey respondents each in Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia said they are not likely to get a vaccine, but those four states have already vaccinated comparatively high percentages of their populations.
Photos: COVID-19 Vaccinations
Jan. 2, 2021 | New Delhi | People participating in a COVID-19 vaccine delivery system trial wait for their turn at a vaccination center. (Altaf Qadri/AP)
Jan. 19, 2021 | Cachoeira do Piria, Brazil | Health professional Raimunda Nonata, 70, is inoculated with the Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 inside her house, becoming the first member of the Quilombo Marajupena community to be vaccinated. (TARSO SARRAF/AFP/Getty Images)
Jan. 20, 2021 | Salisbury, England | Staff prepare to give the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to patients at a vaccination center set up inside Salisbury Cathedral. (Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
Jan. 21, 2021 | Mecca, California | Farm worker Jorge Americano receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Tudor Ranch. (Jae C. Hong/AP)
Jan. 21, 2021 | Mecca, California | Farm workers wait in line to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Tudor Ranch. (Jae C. Hong/AP)
Jan. 22, 2021 | Hyderabad, India | Hospital staff wait to receive COVID-19 vaccines at a government Hospital. India kicked off its massive vaccination drive on Jan. 16, with a goal of inoculating 300 million of its nearly 1.4 billion people. (Mahesh Kumar A/AP)
Jan. 22, 2021 | Langreo, Spain | Nurse Luis inoculates an elderly woman in her room at a nursing home. (Manu Brabo/Getty Images)
Dec. 16, 2020 | Portland, Oregon | Health care workers get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination at the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Jan. 18, 2021 | Rio de Janeiro | Dulcinea da Silva Lopes, 59, receives the CoronaVac vaccination shot at the feet of the Christ the Redeemer statue. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
Jan. 22, 2021 | West Boylston, Massachusetts | Inmate Christian Millett of Worcester, Massachusetts, gets the first of two COVID-19 shots from Alyssa Dobbs, an LPN contractor in the medical department at the Worcester County Jail and House of Corrections. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe/Getty Images)
Jan. 6, 2021 | Lyon, France | A nurse injects a member of the medical staff at the Croix Rousse Hospital with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. (JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images)
Jan. 21, 2021 | Paterson, New Jersey | People wait in line for the COVID-19 vaccine at one of the few vaccination sites that does not require an appointment. (Seth Wenig/AP)
Jan. 7, 2021 | Gothenburg, Sweden | Two elderly women receive their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine. (Fredrik Lerneryd/Getty Images)
Jan. 20, 2021 | Moscow | People stand in line to get a shot of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in a vaccination center at the GUM department store. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)
Jan. 25, 2021 | Tel Aviv, Israel | A medical professional prepares to administer a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to a man at a vaccination center. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Jan. 22, 2021 | Valencia, California | Licensed vocational nurse Joselito Florendo administers the COVID-19 vaccine to Michael Chesler at a mass vaccination site set up in the parking lot of Six Flags Magic Mountain. (Jae C. Hong/AP)
Jan. 6, 2021 | Pompano Beach, Florida | A health care worker with American Medical Response, Inc. working with the Florida Department of Health in Broward administers a Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the John Knox Village Continuing Care Retirement Community. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Jan. 19, 2021 | Sao Paulo | Elide Merlini, 76, awaits her Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine at the start of a vaccination campaign for elderly people living in public shelters. (Marcelo Chello/AP)
Beyond state differences, the bureau's survey data also shows age and racial disparities in attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. While 71% of respondents aged 65 and older said they would definitely get vaccinated when possible, only 41% of people aged 18-29 and 30-44 said they would definitely get it. And while a majority of Asian (66%) and white (55.5%) respondents said they would definitely get the vaccine, those rates were much lower for Black (29.6%) and Hispanic or Latino (47.3%) respondents, according to the bureau.
The Census Bureau notes that because the Household Pulse Survey is experimental and "designed to be a short-turnaround instrument that provides valuable data to aid in the pandemic recovery," some data might not meet the bureau's statistical quality standards.
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