Vaccine Hesitancy, the COVID 19 Pandemic, and Christian Fundamentalism

Authors

Nicole Drew, Chapman UniversityFollow

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 5-2021

Faculty Advisor(s)

Ann Gordon

Abstract

Over the past few decades, religion has continued to move to the forefront of American politics, with many viewing fundamental Christianity as synonymous with the Republican Party. Donald Trump's presidency has increased this tenfold, with significant figures within American Christianity voicing their support for him and tying him into Biblical prophecies. In the media, this appears to have affected how this demographic views the COVID 19 pandemic. The literature in this area focuses heavily on American Christians' response to mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, and other attempts to mitigate the spread of the CoronaVirus; however, research on how this same demographic views the COVID 19 vaccine is lacking. Using cross-tabulations of data from the Chapman Survey of American Fears, I attempted to determine whether or not people who adhere to Biblical literlism, those who take a literal interpretation of the Christian Bible, have a higher propensity to be against vaccinations, particularly the COVID 19 vaccine. My findings show that there is a disparity in how Christian fundamentalists and those who do not fall into that demographic view the pandemic and vaccines. When asked questions about being hesitant or fully against taking the COVID 19 vaccine, a higher percentage of people in this demographic responded that they were hesitant about or against a COVID vaccine. I also found that a lower number of the same demographic believe that vaccines' benefits outweigh their risks than in other groups. I believe this topic is highly pertinent in the moment we are in because, to reach herd immunity and bring about the end of the pandemic, we need a majority of the population to be vaccinated. By identifying the drivers of vaccine hesitancy, we can identify which populations may be swayed to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Comments

Presented at the virtual Spring 2021 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

This scholarship is part of the Chapman University COVID-19 Archives.

Recommended Citation

Drew, Nicole, "Vaccine Hesitancy, the COVID 19 Pandemic, and Christian Fundamentalism" (2021). Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters. 435.
https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cusrd_abstracts/435

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.