By Megan Schumann, Rutgers University Office of Communications

A new report by The COVID States Project examining parents’ attitudes and beliefs regarding COVID-19 vaccines has been released today. A collaboration between scholars at Rutgers, Northeastern, Harvard and Northwestern universities, the project includes SC&I Assistant Professor Katherine Ognyanova.

The researchers surveyed 19,789 people across all 50 states plus the District of Columbia between Feb. 5 and March 1, 2021. Among the findings:

• Parents are more vaccine hesitant and resistant than non-parents (in terms of willingness to vaccinate themselves) across all socioeconomic and demographic groups compared. This pattern is largely driven by younger mothers, who are far more vaccine resistant than younger women who are not mothers. Older parents and fathers show little difference from their non-parent peers.
• Parents’ willingness to vaccinate their children closely matches their willingness to get vaccinated themselves. Mothers are far more reluctant than fathers to do both.
• Parents without a four-year college degree are far more likely to be vaccine hesitant and resistant than their counterparts with a four-year college degree or higher. Among the more highly educated, parents and non-parents hold similar views.
• Parents who earn less than $75,000 per year are far more reluctant to get vaccinated than their non-parent counterparts. The gap is far smaller in households earning more than $75,000 per year.
• Parents of all races are more reluctant than non-parents to get vaccinated themselves, but this gap is largest among African American parents, nearly 75 percent of whom are vaccine hesitant or resistant.
• Similar gaps exist between parents and non-parents across party and regional lines, and between urban, suburban and rural residents.

To view the full report and findings, click here.

More information about the Communication Department at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information is on the website.