Coronavirus vaccination tyranny is upon us (see a post on this, forthcoming).
Most of the media coverage would have you believe that the reported surge in the Delta coronavirus variant cases is mainly due to those less educated Trump “morons” (i.e., supporters) who don’t want to take the vaccine.
But according to a new paper by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, it turns out that Americans with a doctoral degree are the most skeptical about the vaccine, and the least likely to get vaccinated.
Intelligence is moderately correlated (r=0.39-0.44) with educational achievement (see here). Those with PhD, LLD, MD and DDS degrees have the highest IQs of all education levels — an average IQ of 124 (see here). This means that the most intelligent Americans are the most skeptical about the coronavirus vaccine(s).
As reported by the UK’s Unherd, August 11, 2021, the study analyzed more than 5 million survey responses by Americans of different demographic details, including education level, and classed those people who would “probably” or “definitely” not choose to get vaccinated as “vaccine hesitant.”
While the study did find a correlation between counties with higher Trump support in the 2020 presidential election and higher vaccine hesitancy (in the period January 2021 — May 2021), the association between vaccine hesitancy and education level follows a U-shaped curve with the highest hesitancy among those least and most educated. People with a master’s degree had the least hesitancy, and the highest hesitancy was among those holding a Ph.D.
In the first five months of 2021, the largest decrease in hesitancy was among the least educated — those with a high school education or less. However, hesitancy held constant in the most educated group — those with a Ph.D. degree.
So not only are the most educated people most skeptical of taking the COVID vaccine, they are also the least likely the change their minds about it. For the reasons why, see my post of June 9, 2021, here.
~E