COLLEGE STATION, TX — As COVID-19 vaccinations continue to climb, a recent study done by the Texas A&M School of Public health found a surprising percent of Americans self-identify as anti-vaxxers.
A study of more than one thousand demographically representative participants, found, that about 22% of Americans self-identify as anti-vaxxers and embrace the label as a form of social identity.
According to the study, 8% surveyed always identified as an anti-vaxxer, while 14% identified as an anti-vaxxer sometimes, leading to what experts at Texas A&M find "surprising and concerning".
"The anti-vax population, people who self identify, is much larger than we would expect, Second our study demonstrates for the first time that not only do people identify with this label, but its a form of social identity, they view this label as central to the sense itself..." shared Timothy Callaghan, assistant professor at Texas A&M Public School of Health. "Individuals that do view this as essential to their sense of self are less likely to be trusting of scientists and less likely to be moved by various interventions."
Moving forward Callaghan and the research team hopes to investigate further into how these labels vary across the county and study how to reduce an individual's social attachment to the anti-vaxxer identity.
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