College Graduates Are More Willing To Get COVID-19 Vaccine: Study

LOS ANGELES, CA — The more educated you are, the more likely you are to want the COVID-19 vaccine. That's according to a new USC Dornsife study, which found that, more than any other factor, education impacts attitudes about vaccine safety and efficacy.

Researchers behind the "Understanding Coronavirus in America Study" uncovered notable gaps in attitudes about coronavirus vaccines between people with a college degree and those without. Among college-educated U.S. adults, about 76 percent plan to be vaccinated compared to barely half of adults without college degrees. For some reason, that gap has grown and hardened as the pandemic wears on.

The education gap is linked to more than just the willingness to be vaccinated. Highly educated people are more likely to know someone who has been vaccinated. They're also less likely to be apprehensive about the risks and side effects associated with the coronavirus vaccine.

That's a change from earlier in the pandemic, when educational level played less of a role in people's willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Earlier in the pandemic, educational level played less of a role than race and ethnicity in people's willingness to get vaccinated, but educational attainment is now, in most cases, a greater factor, the study found.

"Results of our surveys earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic — before vaccines were approved — indicated that race and ethnicity would play a greater role than education level in people's willingness to get the vaccine," said Jill Darling, survey director for CESR's Understanding America Study. "But one year into this pandemic, with vaccines now being rolled out across the U.S., education level has become a greater factor than race."

Over the last month, health officials across California have rolled out mobile vaccination clinics to reach underserved minority communities. The effort has succeeded in reducing the racial gap among the vaccinated and unvaccinated. According to the USC researchers, outreach to communities with lower educational attainment may also be warranted.

"What we find driving the educational differences, along with racial and ethnic differences, in vaccine hesitancy is lack of trust in the vaccine development and approval process," said Kyla Thomas, a sociologist with USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, which conducts the study. "Our findings indicate that, in addition to tailoring vaccine awareness campaigns to high-risk groups, policymakers should emphasize the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines particularly to those without college degrees. Trust is the big story here: Policymakers need to build trust among less-educated Americans."

For now, a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine is the greatest factor hampering vaccine uptake by U.S. adults, with almost six in 10 saying they plan to get vaccinated. As vaccine supply increases, and once access inequities are addressed, the issue of overcoming vaccine hesitancy likely will move to the forefront of the policy agenda both nationally and in the states, according to the study.

Designing effective strategies to encourage people to get vaccinated will be key to increasing uptake and generating community protection against the coronavirus via widespread vaccination.

"Moving forward, we have to work closely with information and communication channels people trust, like celebrities and leaders from the community and faith-based organizations," said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, professor of preventive medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC and research scientist, USC COVID-19 Pandemic Research Center.

City News Service and Patch staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.