Moreover, this study showed that vaccination was a mediator in the association between the percentage of votes for Donald Trump and COVID-19 cases and deaths [18]. While COVID-19 vaccine coverage is more directly relevant to the middle and long-term control of COVID-19, uptake of other vaccines has also been indirectly affected by the recent pandemic scenario [42]. Several studies suggest that adherence to routine vaccines has dropped since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic [43,44,45,46,47]. Nonetheless, it is also possible that skepticism towards COVID-19 vaccines built up distrust and hesitancy towards other vaccines, as suggested by a previous study on the influenza vaccine [48]. Reluctant attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine may have reinforced the growing phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy.

Source: New York Times August 23, 2023 14:21 UTC