A syringe is filled with a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccination clinic during a back-to-school event offering school supplies, COVID-19 vaccinations, face masks and other resources for children and their families at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA in Los Angeles on Saturday. (Patrick T. Fallon – AFP / Getty Images)
By Michael Austin August 13, 2021 at 4:01pm
The establishment wants you to believe that uneducated rednecks and conspiracy theorists are the only people hesitant to get the vaccine.
To them, people without a college education are the stupid derelicts holding the country back.
If only those people would get the vaccine, the liberal elitists tell themselves, then everything would be all right.
Well, according to a recently released survey, the most educated Americans — those with doctorates — are the most likely to show hesitancy to get a vaccine.
This group is even more hesitant than Americans with only a high school-level education.
The most educated Americans, PhDs, are the least likely to trust the vaccine.
According to a yet-to-be peer reviewed study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh that surveyed over 5 million U.S. adults. pic.twitter.com/3OC9CVsVoa
— Michael Austin (@mikeswriting) August 13, 2021
For the study, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University surveyed 5,121,436 US adults online from Jan. 6 to May 31 with confidence intervals of 95 percent for all parameters.
The purpose of the study was to find the groups that exhibit the most hesitancy toward getting vaccinated. Finding that citizens with Ph.D.s are one of the most hesitant groups likely came as a shock.
Can COVID-19 vaccines be trusted?
Of those with a high school education or less, 20.8 exhibited some hesitancy, and among those with a Ph.D., 23.9 percent displayed hesitancy.
The association between level of education and vaccine hesitancy, according to the study, follows a U-shaped curve, with the most hesitant being those with a high school education or less and those with a doctorate.
Although it has yet to be peer-reviewed, the study’s authors note that “no other study has evaluated education with this level of granularity.”
Likely due to their suspicion of the numbers, the study’s authors go on to write that “further investigation into hesitancy among those with a PhD is warranted.”
The study’s findings identified a list of additional groups more likely to be hesitant as well.
“In May, independent hesitancy risk factors included younger age, non-Asian race, having a PhD or ≤high school education, living in a rural county, living in a county with higher 2020 Trump support, lack of worry about COVID-19, working outside the home, never intentionally avoiding contact with others, and no past-year flu vaccine,” the study’s authors conclude.
The reasons respondents gave for their tentativeness were “fear of side effects and not trusting the vaccine,” “not trusting the government,” “not needing the vaccine” and “waiting to see if safe.”
So, do members of the establishment left believe that Ph.D. recipients are idiots peddling vaccine conspiracy theories?
Apparently, they do.
So much for the left being a bastion of science and tolerance.
Michael Austin joined The Western Journal as a staff reporter in 2020. Since then, he has authored hundreds of stories, including several original reports. He also co-hosts the outlet’s video podcast, “WJ Live.”
Michael Austin joined The Western Journal as a staff reporter in 2020. Since then, he has authored hundreds of stories, including several original reports. He also co-hosts the outlet’s video podcast, “WJ Live.”
Birthplace
Ames, Iowa