Nothing will change Ron Holloway’s opinion when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine: he won’t get it.
“I just feel like God created us, made our bodies in such an amazing way that we can pretty much do our own immunization,” Holloway, 75, told The Guardian. “In most cases we are equipped to do that. I just don’t see the need for it. “
Holloway is one of potentially millions of Republican identifying men who say they have no intention of getting the coronavirus vaccine. According to a recent NPR / PBS NewsHour / Marist poll, 49% of Republican men told pollsters they wouldn’t get the shot; the poll is one of the recent analyzes that claims hesitation about vaccines is highest among this demographic.
This data has alarmed disease experts, who have struggled to fight Covid-19 amid the sharp politicization of public health policies, such as the often Republican opposition to the masking of mandates and corporate rules and the frequent denunciation of conspiracy theories.
“How such a large proportion of a certain group of people would not want to be vaccinated just for political reasons … it makes absolutely no sense,” said American infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci recently. “What’s the problem here? This is a vaccine that will save millions of lives. “
While some powerful Republicans have urged people to get the vaccine, the mixed media coverage remains among some conservatives. Tucker Carlson, host of Fox News, recently criticized the Biden government’s efforts to get to the vaccine, saying, “If you want them to take the vaccine, don’t dislike them, don’t give more orders, calm their fears through the rationally explain the benefits and risks of the vaccine. “
Stichting de Beaumont, an organization focused on improving public health, organized a focus group on March 13 to gain insight into opposition to vaccines among Republicans. The group was made up of 19 members, men and women, who identified as Republican. The selected participants had responded ‘maybe’ or ‘probably not’ to the question of whether they would receive a Covid vaccine ”.
Group leader Frank Luntz, a seasoned Republican pollster, asked participants, “When I say Covid-19 vaccination, vaccine … what do you think of first?” A man replied, “A miracle, be it suspicious.” One man said “hurried” while another said “experimental”. One man said, “Don’t hold my freedom hostage.”
Alec Tyson, an associate director of research at Pew Research Center, said there is a “similar dynamic” between the partisan divide in beliefs about Covid-19’s threat to public health and attitudes toward vaccinations. “Republicans are much less concerned than Democrats” about the risk of Covid-19 to public health, Tyson said. “Vaccination intent is one of the most important correlations to that attitude.”
In examining the purpose of the vaccine, Tyson said Pew researchers asked those who were not currently planning on getting the vaccine why.
Among those who didn’t plan on getting the vaccine, Tyson said Republicans in this group are “more likely to tell us they don’t think they need it than Democrats who don’t plan to get it.”
Panayiota Kendeou, a professor of educational psychology and Guy Bond chair at the University of Minnesota, said that while some hesitation about vaccines was “ predictable, ” some were also “ unique to the type of political climate, the way the pandemic has handled the U.S. and the United States. rest of the world, and the politics that has clouded the waters a bit in terms of decision-making and the consequences of our decisions ”.
Kendeou explained that hesitancy with vaccines has traditionally been promoted by a number of known factors, saying, “the most important is our perceived risk of infection.” Observed side effects are also critical when people are weighing whether to receive vaccines.
“As for the content of the Covid-19 vaccine, those who see health risks in terms of actually getting the disease, as well as who feared the side effects of the vaccine, have gained political orientation,” said Kendeou. “In the US, for example, we have seen that certain groups are more or less afraid of the Covid-19 virus and have doubts about the severity of the pandemic. That, of course, translated into the kind of hesitation breakdown in the vaccine we’re seeing popping up. “
Loren Anthony Williams – a self-described “moderately conservative” who says “I’m certainly not an ardent, die-hard Trumper” – replied “probably not” when asked if he would get the Covid-19 vaccine.
Williams, who works in the medical marijuana industry, said he is not an “ anti-vaxxer or anything, ” but remains skeptical, saying the shot was “ rushed with a healthy dose of politics because Trump was trying to get it out there. in November before the elections ”.
When Williams was later asked about the politicization, he explained, “I think it was very politicized by Trump. Call it Operation Warp Speed, and did everything possible to make it known before the election. Although Trump “had the welfare of the country in mind,” Williams said, he also had political goals. Williams said his personal political beliefs played no part in his skepticism about the vaccine.
The 35-year-old Detroit resident also said, “I don’t need it because I’m a fairly healthy youngster, and if I got coronavirus, I would do well without the vaccine. I would overcome it alone.
“For older people or those at risk, I wouldn’t discourage them from getting the vaccine. That is their choice. They would probably benefit much more because they are at higher risk, ”Williams continued, saying his elderly parents had already received the vaccine.
Asked if something could influence his opinion, Williams said “maybe”.
“Since I’m not a chemist or biologist, I might change my mind if I knew how it was made and how it was.”
However, some Republicans are skeptical of statistics about hesitant vaccines among men in the party. Andrew Bilardello, who leads a Republican club in The Villages, a sprawling Florida retirement community, told The Guardian, “The majority of the people here are registered Republicans and the majority of the people here are getting the vaccine.”
Bilardello, a retired police chief, pointed out that Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis had visited the area last week, touting Johnson & Johnson’s one-time vaccine, and recently announced that he was lowering the vaccination age. Bilardello, 63, said he gets the Johnson & Johnson shot.
“I drive past the vaccination sites and I have to tell you, every day I go there, there are lines of people to get the vaccine,” Bilardello said. Everyone cares, everyone wears masks … For the majority of the people here in the villages, they take the pandemic very seriously here. “
Joe Martin, a Republican in Georgia, said he had seen no hesitation among his peers. He said people who didn’t understand had access problems but didn’t hesitate.
“All the people I know, we all go out for dinner because we’ve had the chance,” said Martin, 77. “Once you get the chance, you’re free to socialize and do anything. Why would you? do not want to? “
Despite reported levels of increased hesitation or resistance to vaccines, there is some evidence that minds can change.
Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gave five facts about Covid-19 to participants in De Beaumont’s virtual focus group. One fact: More than 90% of doctors who got the vaccine decided to get it. When the focus group ended, 16 said they were more willing to get the vaccine, the organization said.