By Tyler Quigley

Given that, as of September 16th, 2021, 64.1% of Americans have received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine and that 54.7% are fully vaccinated, many people, including myself, are pondering one specific question: why is that number not higher? There are some obvious answers to that question that make the number of unvaccinated Americans appear more tolerable; for instance, a majority of the 48 million children under the age of 12 are still unvaccinated, as the vaccine was ineligible for those in that age group up until about a month ago. For other groups, the answer is not as clear nor as simple as to why they are unvaccinated. This article will attempt to pinpoint some of the major reasons why certain Americans are still unvaccinated and what can be done to try and remedy it.

A common description given to people who are unvaccinated is that they are all unintelligent, uneducated simpletons who don’t understand why they need to get the vaccine. This grossly oversimplifies the issue, as it ignores two important concepts: first, that not all unvaccinated Americans are choosing to be unvaccinated and, second, that not all unvaccinated Americans who are choosing to be unvaccinated are doing it for completely illogical reasons. Analyzing these two concepts are important in order to understand the full picture as to why over a third of Americans have not received the vaccine yet and further analysis can shed more light on how to fix this disparity.

The first camp of people, those who are not choosing to be unvaccinated, can be defined as individuals who are physically unable to get the vaccine. Those who are “physically unable” usually fall into two camps: those who cannot reach a vaccine site to get the shot or those who, if given the shot, will have an adverse reaction to the vaccine itself.  According to a July 2021 survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), out of Americans who are unvaccinated, 11% stated that a critical reason for their unvaccinated status was their inability to find the time to get the vaccine and possibly deal with the side effects, while 10% stated that a critical reason was because of a pre-existing health condition. In both of these cases, blaming these individuals for not getting the vaccine would be the equivalent of blaming an individual for being allergic to something; it is out of their control to get the vaccine, as doing so would clearly make their lives more difficult.

Unlike the first camp of people (those who were unvaccinated due to physical factors), people in the second camp do have the physical ability to acquire the vaccine and do not have a health condition that would make the vaccine dangerous to take. Instead, this camp contains Americans who, for a variety of ideological reasons and beliefs, have decided that the vaccine is dangerous for them to receive. For instance, take the views expressed by white evangelicals in a New York Times article written in April of 2020 where one woman wrote, “she did not need the vaccine because God designed the body to heal itself, if given the right nutrients,” and that “It would be God’s will if I am here or if I am not here.” Along with religious reasons, distrust in American institutions has contributed to the number of unvaccinated Americans, as seen in a 2020 study conducted by the RAND corporation, where it showed that trust in the CDC dropped nearly 10% between May and October of 2020. For a third and final reason, some Americans just have a general distrust of vaccines, as a YouGov study conducted in May of 2021 found the 49% of those who are unwilling to get the vaccine believe that there is definitive proof that vaccines cause Autism, something that has been vehemently disputed by dozens of reports.

Given all of these reasons, as well as dozens of others, what can be done to remedy this problem of unvaccinated Americans? While each example has its own specific solutions, the most widespread and general solution to this problem is to reestablish the trust between the U.S. government and these groups. By building trust, providing resources, and fostering meaningful conversations with those who are physically unable or ideologically unwilling to receive the vaccine, we can, slowly but surely, solve the issue of American vaccination.