A recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that Americans who have not been vaccinated are now three times likelier to lean Republican than to lean Democrat. The persistence of vaccine hesitancy has kept vaccine uptake from being as widespread as it might be, helping prolong the pandemic. Its intersection with political partisanship suggests the role sectarianism plays in this. Vaccine hesitancy is, in many ways, a phenomenon of mutual incomprehension. The hesitant, for a range of reasons, are not able to see why so many would find the vaccines safe enough to take. And the vaccinated, particularly those in the public health establishment, cannot see why anyone would refuse an effective vaccine in the midst of a deadly pandemic. This divide mirrors other divides in the US; most notably, as the new analysis reflects, the red versus blue divide that has long characterized our politics.
The story of vaccine hesitancy, then, is, in large part, a story of sectarianism. I would argue that a key reason why the issue of vaccine hesitancy remains so intractable is because we have failed to fully reckon with the degree to which hesitancy is shaped by the larger story of division in this country. Certainly, we have acknowledged division, bemoaned it, but in terms of actually addressing it, we have done little. When it comes to vaccine hesitancy, much of our effort has been directed towards simply making the case for greater education about vaccines and for more expansive mandates. In doing so, we sidestep the central issue, one which is core not just to vaccine hesitancy but to how we collectively engage with the forces that shape health.
Given this challenge, it seems helpful to take a step back and look at the role of sectarianism in our thinking and behavior around issues that matter for health, and at how we can address sectarianism towards shaping a better engagement with these issues.
Read the full post at The Healthiest Goldfish.