蜜桃影视

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 蜜桃影视 Newsletter

As schools across the country amid the Omicron surge, researchers have found a strong correlation between the unvaccinated and low levels of education.

It found more than half of unvaccinated American adults who reported strong hesitancy to the vaccine had a high school education or less. Five of the top 10 reasons for bypassing inoculation included lack of knowledge about its benefits and the risks of remaining unvaccinated. 

A lack of confidence in the shot itself followed by concerns about side effects and distrust in government were listed as the greatest concerns among the vaccine hesitant, according to a draft version of , which will be published in an upcoming issue of the

鈥淰accine hesitancy is a complex problem across the U.S.,鈥� said Saif Khairat, associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the study鈥檚 principal author. 鈥淎nd the root cause of that problem is different for different people.鈥�

The study considered a number of variables, including the percent of households with no access to a vehicle; those who were unemployed; had less than a high school education; had trouble speaking English; identified as a member of a minority group; lived in poverty; were over 65 or were single parents with children under 18. 

The paper centered on data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of May 9, 2021. It examined statistics from nearly every county in America 鈥� Texas did not provide vaccination data 鈥� in an effort to help policymakers better understand the characteristics of vaccine holdouts.

While the study focused on information gleaned more than eight months ago, the issue remains: Just as of Jan. 20, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Vaccination rates vary widely by age. More than 84 percent of U.S. adults age 65 and older are fully inoculated, according to . The figure drops dramatically for children ages 5 to 11: It tops out at 48.4 percent of young children in Vermont and just 5.3 percent in Alabama. The CDC for this age group in November. 

continue to feel the strain 鈥� some at record levels 鈥� as COVID-related beds are filled mostly by patients who have not been inoculated. Some countries, buckling under the Omicron variant, are considering a . 

Former President Donald Trump, who once famously said he loves 鈥渢he poorly educated,鈥� downplayed the severity of the virus, though he was vaccinated. The notion has a stubborn hold on his most ardent followers who at a recent event when he said he received a vaccine booster. 

Khairat and his co-authors said public outreach targeting the undereducated should address the shot鈥檚 safety and effectiveness and include statistics on the percentage of people within their local community who have received the inoculation. Vaccine promotion efforts should incorporate discussion of a path back to normalcy through herd immunity 鈥� information, they said, best delivered by a trusted, locally recognized figure.

of American adults ages 25 and older had not earned their high school diploma as of 2017, according to the American Council on Education. Another 29 percent graduated high school but did not further their education.

Anthony DiMaggio, associate professor of political science at Lehigh University, said his recent analysis shows that age is the strongest predictor of vaccination rates 鈥� but that education also plays a major role. 

鈥淲hat is not in question is that both factors are significant in accounting for whether people are vaccinated or not, with less educated Americans and those under 60 being less likely to have gotten at least two shots by mid-2021,鈥� he said. 

John A. Romley, associate professor at the University of Southern California, helped conduct earlier this year. He and his colleagues discovered that U.S. counties that scored high on both hesitancy and 鈥渟ocial vulnerability鈥� were 鈥渆specially likely鈥� to have lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than the rest of the nation.

Romley and his team have more recently begun to focus on children. Preliminary results from their latest efforts show socioeconomic disadvantage plays a larger role in vaccination rates for kids than it does for adults.

鈥淧arents think about vaccinations for themselves differently than they think about vaccinations for their kids,鈥� Romley said. 

Some adults are required by their employers to take the vaccine. They also might realize they are more vulnerable to a more severe illness than their children, he said. Other unknowns, including the shot鈥檚 long-term impact, might also contribute to their hesitancy. 

鈥淭alking to people with respect and trying to persuade them is the only way to make progress,鈥� Romley said. 鈥淏ut in these polarized times, the conversations we have are pretty heated and I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 helping.鈥�

Time has shown that not recommendations, are more effective in boosting vaccination rates. 

to push for a vaccine mandate for students back in October: The requirement would go into effect in July. states have followed suit. 

Individual school districts, including Los Angeles Unified, that tried the same tactic were met with immediate backlash and by the threat that additional students would go remote. New York City schools have so far not required students be vaccinated, with Mayor Eric Adams promising a decision on a mandate . 

But at least one New York City educator said mandates are not the answer, even in the face of the Omicron variant. Patrick Sprinkle, a high school social studies teacher at the N.Y.C. Lab School for Collaborative Studies in Manhattan, said he鈥檚 worried about inoculation rates and the spread of the virus, but doesn鈥檛 believe families should be forced to take the shot. 

鈥淭his remains a pressing concern for me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is of the utmost importance that we encourage families to have their children vaccinated, however, a mandate is an unwise policy decision as it will push more students into ineffective remote learning and deny students the highest quality education possible.鈥�

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.