Long-Term Cultural Barriers to Sustaining Collective Effort in Vaccination Against COVID-19

Abstract

This study attempts to shed light on long-term cultural barriers to strengthening collective action in COVID-19 vaccination. I propose that rugged individualism, characterized by emphasis on self-reliance and strong antipathy to government intervention, is linked to a greater prevalence of resistance to inoculation against the novel coronavirus across American counties.The main hypothesis of this paper rests upon the premise that a culture of rugged individualism is conducive to the emergence and persistence of mistrust, political polarization and distrust in science, which undermine collective effort in vaccination. Using subnational data for the United States, I consistently find evidence that rugged individualism, captured by long-run exposure to the westward-moving frontier in American history, has a positive influence on the predicted share of the population that is hesitant towards voluntary vaccination against COVID-19. In addition, individualistic counties tend to suffer from under-vaccination, captured by lower rates of the population that has been fully inoculated against COVID-19.More broadly, the findings suggest that rugged individualism is an impediment to resolving collective action problems, notwithstanding the widely acknowledged positive impact of individualistic cultures on innovation and long-run economic performance.

Adolescents’ Opinions on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Hints toward Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness in the Future

“…This study will also consider an argument for vaccines as private goods [ 31 ]. While collectivism is the main driver of reducing vaccine hesitancy, individualism can foster protective behavior for those who trust medicine and institutions and reduce it for those who mistrust them [ 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”

The Moderating Effect of Vaccine Hesitancy on the Relationship between the COVID-19 Vaccine Coverage Index and Vaccine Coverage

“…While there is a plethora of studies that focus on the barriers to vaccination faced by minoritized racial and ethnic groups [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ], there is a dearth of research investigating psychological barriers to vaccine uptake among white Americans. Newer studies suggest that political ideology, rugged individualism, mediate intake and moral concerns may be factors to explore in additional research [ 50 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. This gap in our knowledge has detrimental implications for population health in the U.S.…”

Cultural traits or social norms? Both responsibilism and norms linked to accepting COVID‐19 vaccine

“…Alternatively, individualistic people may resent feeling pressured to get the vaccine. One study found that Americans who identified as “rugged individualists” had less favorable attitudes toward the COVID vaccine (Vu, 2021).…”