Tennesseans who won't get the COVID-19 vaccine describe “no one” as more trusted source of info than their own doctors, hospitals, pharmacists, public health experts and politicians of either party, per a new vaccine hesitancy survey the state didn't publicize. A quick thread. 1/
The Tennessee Department of Health published a vaccine hesitancy survey last April and announced a second round would follow. The second round was done just before the Omicron wave but the state decided not to push it out like the first. They gave me the results when I asked.
The findings are bad. High levels of misinformed and politicized hesitancy were expected, but vaccine resistance appears more entrenched than I feared. Of those responders who are currently unwilling to be vaccinated, 64% said they “will NOT” reconsider.
We already knew unwillingness is most common among rural, conservative whites, which makes up the bulk of Tennessee and the survey group. Of those rural, conservative whites in the survey, less than 1% were vaxxed & boosted. In a smaller quantitative study, none were vaxxed. Zero
Why are they unwilling? Top answers were doubts about safety, effectiveness and need. Many said the government will “track them” with the vaccine. Others said the vaccine “does not align with my political beliefs.” This is a partisan issue, but rarely is it stated so frankly.
Anyways, here is a link to what was released. Also, I have some doubts about the completeness of this survey. For example, among the black and urban/suburban black population surveyed, there are more conservatives than liberals. That doesn’t add up. documentcloud.org/documents/2171…
Fourth tweet should say "smaller qualitative study," not quantitative. Sorry about that.
I still don't want a Twitter edit button.
I still don't want a Twitter edit button.
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