A Tale of Two Cities: COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy as a Result of Racial, Socioeconomic, Digital, and Partisan Divides

Abstract

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has drawn great attention to the issue of vaccine hesitancy, as the acceptance of the innovative RNA vaccine is relatively low. Studies have addressed multiple factors, such as socioeconomic, political, and racial backgrounds. These studies, however, rely on survey data from participants as part of the population. This study utilizes the actual data from the U.S. Census Bureau as well as actual 2020 U.S. presidential election results to generate four major category of factors that divide the population: socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, access to technology, and political identification. This study then selects a region in a traditionally democratic state (Capital Region in New York) and a region in a traditionally republican state (Houston metropolitan area in Texas). Statistical analyses such as correlation and geographically weighted regression reveal that factors such as political identification, education attainment, and non-White Hispanic ethnicity in both regions all impact vaccine acceptance significantly. Other factors, such as poverty and particular minority races, have different influences in each region. These results also highlight the necessity of addressing additional factors to further shed light on vaccine hesitancy and potential solutions according to identified factors.