(KXAN) — Some U.S. counties are finding they don’t have enough COVID-19 vaccine supply to go around, while others have too much with too little demand. And vote results in the 2020 presidential election have more to do with it than you might guess.
While many factors likely contribute to vaccine availability nationwide, states and counties with high concentrations of people who voted to reelect former Pres. Donald Trump are the most likely to have adults who are vaccine-hesitant, according to survey and vaccine administration data recently examined by the New York Times.
States with bigger shares of Trump voters are also less likely to have larger shares of their populations who actually did get vaccinated, regardless of hesitancy, the data showed.
The Times’ review of the data—which was for all U.S. counties—found that the rate of adult vaccinations was less than one in four residents in U.S. counties where Trump beat Biden by a 50-point or higher margin.
Currently, the states with the lowest vaccination rates are Wyoming, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Washington State, and Virginia. Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont are among the highest.
Last week, a Quinnipiac University poll found 45% of Republicans say they don’t plan on getting the COVID-19 vaccine, while 50% planned to or had.
Meanwhile, a Monmouth University poll from April 14 found political affiliation was the main factor in deciding who chooses to get vaccinated. Forty-three percent of Republicans in this poll said they want to avoid getting the vaccine, while only 5% of Democrats said this.
Overall, according to Monmouth, Biden is receiving a majority of approval for his administration’s handling of the pandemic. Sixty-two percent said he has done a good job addressing the emergency, while 31% said he has done a poor job.
