SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) – With coronavirus shots now in the arms of nearly half of American adults, parts of the U.S. that are excellent and those that are struggling with vaccines are beginning to look like the political map of the nation: deeply divided between red and blue states.
Ahead is New Hampshire, where 65% of the population aged 18 and over have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are very close: New Mexico, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, with 55% or more. They all have a history of Democratic voting and supported President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, at the bottom are five states where less than 40% have rolled up their sleeves to make a shot. Four of them – Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee – are Republicans and voted for Donald Trump last fall. The fifth is Georgia, which has a Republican governor and has supported Republican presidential candidates for nearly three decades before backing Biden.
The emerging pattern: Americans in blue states that are democratic seem to be vaccinated at more robust rates, while those in red Republican states seem more hesitant.
“We can come to the conclusion that red states and voters who voted for Trump will be harder to vaccinate because we have really good poll data to support that,” said Dr. Howard Forman, a professor of public health and management of the Yale School of Medicine.
A survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in late March it was found that 36% of Republicans said they would probably or definitely not get vaccinated, compared to 12% of Democrats. Similarly, a third of rural Americans said they supported the shootings, while less than a quarter of people living in cities and suburbs shared that hesitation.
Forman warned that in most U.S. states, which receive shipments of vaccines based on population, demand for the shot still exceeds supply. So it’s hard to know how many people resist until everyone who wants to get shot gets them. But if states soon begin to see a significant number of unfulfilled appointments with many people still unvaccinated, he said the consequences could be serious.
“We were able to see substantial outbreaks for a long time,” Forman said. “It will determine if we return to normal in some cases.”
Past AP-NORC polls have shown more Republicans than Democrats say the government has exaggerated the threat of the virus. Republicans have also been more opposed to restrictions and the use of masks.
The CDC reports that about 121 million American adults (or 47% of the U.S. adult population) have received at least one coronavirus shot. California, the nation’s largest blue state, is slightly ahead of that pace, with 50%. The largest red state, Texas, is less than 44%.
The speed with which states are vaccinated does not always correlate with the way they vote.
Deep red South Dakota is among the most successful states, with 54% of its population being injected. Among the blue states, Nevada lags behind the United States with less than 44%, followed by Oregon and Michigan with 45% each.
New Hampshire, which leads the nation in adult vaccinations, has a Republican governor and a Republican-controlled legislature. However, Democrats hold all their seats in Congress and the state has always been a Democrat in every presidential election since 2008.
West Virginia, where Trump got 66% of the vote last year, became an early success story in launching vaccines as the first U.S. state to cover all residences. But while Republican Gov. Jim Justice has remained a vaccine cheerleader, West Virginia is now left with the United States as a whole, with less than 42% of its population receiving at least one dose.
Among those who say they will not be vaccinated is Martha Brown, 58. Sitting outside her apartment complex in Charleston, West Virginia, Brown said she is afraid of having a bad reaction after a flu shot last year left her with cold symptoms.
“I’m fine without that,” Brown said. “I wear the mask all the time.”
Experts said it was too early to know whether Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines would be paused. will increase reluctance to vaccinate. Government scientists are investigating reports of unusual blood clots in six women who received the vaccine.
If the problem is resolved quickly and it is considered safe to resume shooting at Johnson & Johnson, there should be little impact on public confidence, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers. He hopes the answer itself assures people that “the system works.”
“It’s really important to understand how closely we monitor everyone who gets the vaccine” to find possible problems, Hannan said. “We have systems to connect the dots”.
In a suburb on the outskirts of Chicago, Jennifer Rockwood was about to shoot Johnson & Johnson Tuesday morning when she heard about the recommended break. He canceled his appointment after waiting months to get the vaccine.
“Did you give me hesitation? Yes, he did, “said Rockwood, 49.” But I immediately went back to the kitchen counter opening the laptop again and seeing what I could do to program another one. “
He made an appointment to get the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday.
Trump has publicly urged Americans to get vaccinated, but he has also received his own injections in secret, revealing them only after he left office. As president, he spent much of the pandemic minimizing the dangers of the virus, even after being hospitalized with COVID-19.
Some Republican rulers have kept their vaccine silent.
In Florida, where about 44% of the population has received at least one shot, it was not disclosed that government Gov. Ron DeSantis he got the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine until a few days later a reporter asked the governor’s spokeswoman. Many other U.S. governors have been shot in the camera or held press conferences around it in an effort to assure people that vaccines are safe.
The Democratic governor of Kentucky, a state with a Trump vote, is trying to convince more people to fight by promising to lift pandemic restrictions when vaccination rates improve. Approximately 1.6 million people in Kentucky have received at least one dose, a rate equal to that of the U.S. as a whole.
Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday he will lift capacity restrictions on restaurants, retail stores, concert halls and other businesses once Kentucky reaches 2.5 million people who have had shots.
“Every decision of each individual can bring us closer to the normalcy we have been seeking,” Beshear said.
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AP Cuneyt Dil writers in Charleston, West Virginia, and Sophia Eppolito in Salt Lake City contributed.