People in Republican-voting states more likely to report Covid-19 vaccine side effects, study says
People in Republican-voting states were more likely to report adverse events after receiving a Covid-19 vaccination than people living in Democratic-leaning states, a new analysis finds, suggesting that how people view their post-vaccine side effects or decide whether to report them may be shaped by their political views.
The cross-sectional study, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, looked at more than 620,000 entries in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System from 2020 through 2022 and found that a 10% increase in ballots cast for a Republican in the last presidential election was associated with a 5% increase in the odds that an adverse event after Covid vaccination would be reported, a 25% increase in odds that a severe adverse event would be reported, and a 21% increase in the odds that any reported adverse event would be severe.
