The NPR Politics Podcast

The High Cost Of Vaccine Conspiracies

Dec 6, 2021

Geoffrey Brumfiel, NPR's senior science editor, dives into the troubling connection between COVID-19 misinformation and political allegiance. He highlights how misinformation is exacerbating vaccination hesitancy, especially in counties that leaned heavily towards Trump in 2020, leading to disproportionately high death rates. The conversation also explores how educational background influences vaccination rates, the political challenges faced by Biden amid ongoing health crises, and the impact of emerging COVID-19 variants on public health.

15:20

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Episode guests

Geoffrey Brumfiel

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Episode notes

Intro

2min

Misinformation, Politics, and Vaccination

7min

The Dangerous Intersection of Politics and Vaccine Misinformation

2min

Vaccination Rates and Political Divides: Unpacking the Factors

2min

Political Challenges Amidst a Pandemic

2min

An NPR analysis finds that people living in counties which strongly supported Donald Trump in the 2020 election could be three times more likely to die of coronavirus than those in counties which strongly supported Joe Biden. That difference appears to be driven by partisan differences in vaccination rates, as vaccine conspiracies spread among far-right voters.

This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, senior Science editor and correspondent Geoffrey Brumfiel, and White House correspondent Scott Detrow.

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