Reports of COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Events in Predominantly Republican vs Democratic States.

Publisher: American Medical Association Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101729235 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2574-3805 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 25743805 NLM ISO Abbreviation: JAMA Netw Open Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Chicago, IL : American Medical Association, [2018]-

COVID-19*/epidemiology ; COVID-19*/prevention & control ; COVID-19 Vaccines*/adverse effects ; Politics*; Female ; Humans ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Influenza Vaccines/adverse effects ; Vaccination/adverse effects ; Male ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; United States

Importance: Antivaccine sentiment is increasingly associated with conservative political positions. Republican-inclined states exhibit lower COVID-19 vaccination rates, but the association between political inclination and reported vaccine adverse events (AEs) is unexplored.
Objective: To assess whether there is an association between state political inclination and the reporting rates of COVID-19 vaccine AEs.
Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study used the AE reports after COVID-19 vaccination from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database from 2020 to 2022, with reports after influenza vaccines from 2019 to 2022 used as a reference. These reports were examined against state-level percentage of Republican votes in the 2020 US presidential election.
Exposure: State-level percentage of Republican votes in the 2020 US presidential election.
Main Outcomes and Measures: Rates of any AE among COVID-19 vaccine recipients, rates of any severe AE among vaccine recipients, and the proportion of AEs reported as severe.
Results: A total of 620 456 AE reports (mean [SD] age of vaccine recipients, 51.8 [17.6] years; 435 797 reports from women [70.2%]; a vaccine recipient could potentially file more than 1 report, so reports are not necessarily from unique individuals) for COVID-19 vaccination were identified from the VAERS database. Significant associations between state political inclination and state AE reporting were observed for all 3 outcomes: a 10% increase in Republican voting was associated with increased odds of AE reports (odds ratio [OR], 1.05; 95% CI, 1.05-1.05; P < .001), severe AE reports (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.24-1.26; P < .001), and the proportion of AEs reported as severe (OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.20-1.22; P < .001). These associations were seen across all age strata in stratified analyses and were more pronounced among older subpopulations.
Conclusions and Relevance: This cross-sectional study found that the more states were inclined to vote Republican, the more likely their vaccine recipients or their clinicians reported COVID-19 vaccine AEs. These results suggest that either the perception of vaccine AEs or the motivation to report them was associated with political inclination.

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0 (COVID-19 Vaccines)
0 (Influenza Vaccines)

Date Created: 20240329 Date Completed: 20240401 Latest Revision: 20240401

20240402

PMC10980960

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.4177

38551560