A new survey has found that education is now the leading factor in whether someone is willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine, even more than race.
Dr. Kyla Thomas is a sociologist at USC, which runs the Understanding Coronavirus in America Study, and says she was surprised by the result.
The study found that 76 percent of people with a college degree are receptive to the vaccine, but only 53 percent of those without a degree are willing to get it.
"We’re finding higher rates of misinformation among lower educated Americans," she explained. "So people with lower levels of education are more likely to believe that it’s not necessary to wear a mask, they’re more likely to overestimate the likelihood of serious side effects from the vaccine, and this seems to contribute to their lower likelihood of getting vaccinated."
The more educated someone is, the less likely they are to fear the side effects or believe conspiracy theories.
The racial disparity still exists, with Black and Latino Americans more skeptical about the virus and vaccine than whites or Asians, but the gap is less stark.
"(The) racial and ethnic divide in vaccine acceptance is very important to overcome, but in addition to that what we’re finding is there’s a lot of variations within these racial and ethnic groups. So you don’t just want to be targeting Black and Latino residents, you also want to be targeting people with lower levels of education."
Dr. Thomas said it comes down to a lack of trust, which is why she says public health agencies need to launch more messaging campaigns and recruit people that these communities trust to spread information about the vaccine, which is overwhelmingly effective at preventing people from getting severely sick or dying from COVID-19.
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