Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates. Misinformation is to blame

Since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump during the last presidential election have been nearly three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as those who live in areas that went for now-President Biden. That's according to a new analysis by NPR that examines how political polarization and misinformation are driving a significant share of the deaths in the pandemic.

NPR looked at deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which vaccinations widely became available. People living in counties that went 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.7 times the death rates of those that went for Biden. Counties with an even higher share of the vote for Trump saw higher COVID-19 mortality rates.

Promoting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance: recommendations from the Lancet Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the US

The Lancet Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the USA formed to address the persistent and important threat to public health in the USA posed by suboptimal uptake of some vaccines. ...

Since January, 2021, 20% of adults in the USA have consistently reported that they will either get vaccinated only if required for work, or not get vaccinated at all.

One of the most pressing factors contributing to this reluctance has been the unprecedented political polarisation that has affected virtually all aspects of the US pandemic response, as a partisan divide emerged during the previous administration.

Research in political science, communications, and public health have shown that the politicisation of COVID-19 and the public health response to it has been highly detrimental to the success of the US response to the pandemic. ...