Vaccine Monitor: More than Half of Rural Residents Have Gotten a COVID-19 Vaccine or Intend to Do So as Soon as Possible

More than half (54%) of rural adults say they have already received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine or will do so as soon as possible as rural residents report fewer problems with supply and access than those who live in the city and suburbs, according to a new report from the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor that focuses on rural America.

A slightly larger proportion of rural residents (39%) than those living in urban (31%) or suburban (31%) areas say they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

However, there is a greater proportion of rural dwellers (21%) than urban dwellers (10%) or suburbanites (13%) who say they will “definitely not” get a COVID-19 vaccine, a loophole largely caused by the Concentration of Republicans is declared and white Evangelical Christians who live there.

Among rural residents who say they "definitely won't" get vaccinated, nearly three-quarters (73%) identify as Republicans or Republicans and 4 in 10 (41%) identify as white Evangelical Christians.

"There is nothing unique about a rural area that prevents people from getting vaccinated," said Drew Altman, President and CEO of KFF. "It's just that in rural areas, a greater proportion of the people live in the most vaccine-resistant groups: Republicans and white Evangelical Christians."

The new report examines in depth the views and experiences of vaccines from a nationally representative sample of rural residents. Previous reports on the Vaccine Monitor showed concerns about vaccine uptake in this group, who make up roughly one-fifth of the country's population and have frequently reported difficulties in accessing health care.

Among rural residents who haven't received the COVID-19 vaccine, few (11%) say they tried to get an appointment – half the proportion of those who lived in urban (21%) and suburban (22%) ) Areas live.

The large proportion of rural residents who say they "definitely will not" be vaccinated and the relatively small proportion who have tried to get an appointment or hope to be vaccinated "as soon as possible" suggest this Potential for vaccination rates in rural America to eventually lag behind those in urban and suburban areas.

Rural residents are more likely to say their area has enough COVID-19 vaccine to feed their communities (58%) than residents of urban or suburban communities (46% each). In addition, two-thirds (68%) of rural residents say there are enough locations to get vaccinated, compared with just over half of urban residents (52%) and suburbanites (55%).

Importantly, fewer black rural residents (53%) than white (69%) or Spanish (67%) rural residents say that there are adequate vaccination centers in their communities. In addition, half of Black (47%) and Hispanic (52%) residents say they have adequate vaccine supplies compared to 6 in 10 white adults (59%).

"Contrary to popular belief, most rural residents have accepted the COVID-19 vaccine. More than half say they have already received it or want to receive it as soon as possible," said Mollyann Brodie, executive vice president of KFF . "Most people in rural areas believe their communities have enough vaccines and vaccination centers, although fewer black residents do, which suggests an access gap."

The report also captures the impact of a variety of potential incentives, messages, and information on vaccine uptake.

Similar to the general public, various incentives and messages are most effective to move rural residents into the groups “wait and see” and “only when needed”. For example, at least half of the members of the “wait and see” group say the vaccines are nearly 100% effective in preventing hospitalizations and death from COVID-19 (64%), or that scientists at the in used in Technology Have Worked The new COVID-19 vaccines for 20 years (52%) increase the likelihood that they will be vaccinated.

Across the board, none of the messages or information was effective in moving those who say they will definitely not be vaccinated.

Further highlights are:

• Half of rural adults (49%) who received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine said it took them less than 15 minutes to get to the vaccination site, similar to the proportion of urban and suburban residents who say so.
• Rural residents (40%) are less likely to say that they or their family members are worried about the coronavirus than city dwellers (54%) and suburban residents (49%) and are more likely to believe that the news is "general" exaggerated "the severity of the coronavirus Pandemic (44%) than that of city dwellers (27%) and suburbanites (33%).
• More (58%) rural residents consider vaccination a personal choice rather than part of everyone's responsibility to protect the health of others (42%). The opposite is the case for city dwellers, while suburban dwellers are more evenly distributed.

The KFF Vaccine Monitor: Rural America was designed and analyzed by KFF pollsters and conducted March 15-29 among a nationally representative sample of 1,001 adults in rural America. The margin of error in the sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Results based on subgroups may have a higher sampling error rate. All comparisons with city and suburban residents are from the KFF March Vaccine Monitor.