January 7, 2022
Among white evangelicals, pushback against Covid-19 vaccines has remained stubbornly high, with polls in recent months suggesting between 30% and 40% refused to get vaccinated, the highest proportion among any religious group surveyed.
So one group of researchers had an idea.
Sociologists from Stanford and Columbia asked 1,765 unvaccinated, self-identified white Christians to watch a short video in which then-NIH Director Francis Collins — a white evangelical himself — answered questions about the safety and effectiveness of Covid vaccines. Participants also read an essay describing support for vaccination within the medical community.
Some of those surveyed saw an introduction to the video in which Collins declared his “trust in Jesus as a source of all truth” — and were told that “many medical experts are people of faith.”
Read more at STAT News.