Despite progress, some Washington counties remain hesitant to get vaccinated

Since Washington first started distributing COVID-19 vaccines, the state has seen residents in many counties hesitant to participate. The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) mapped that hesitancy between January and June of this year, tracking it as it waned in several areas over that period.

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The IHME’s interactive map pulls from surveys conducted by a Carnegie Mellon University research group, which asked respondents one question over the course of six months: “If a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 were offered to you today, would you choose to get vaccinated?”

In Washington, the percentage of people who answered “no” in early January ranged between 25% to 30% in Pierce, Snohomish, and King counties. That number was as high as 40% in more rural areas like Lewis, Yakima, Grant, Grays Harbor, and Franklin counties.

As vaccinations continued, though, that hesitancy began to fade, ranging between 15% and 20% in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. Sizable improvements were also seen in Yakima, Grant, Franklin, Grays Harbor, and Lewis counties, where hesitancy dipped to between 22% and 30% in that same period.

By the time vaccine eligibility opened up to all Washingtonians ages 16 and up in mid-April, hesitancy in the three more populated Puget Sound areas had fallen to just 8% in King County, 12% in Snohomish County, and 14% in Pierce County, while hovering close to the upper end of that range among the five counties that were most hesitant in early January.

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The most recent data tracked by researchers spans the first week of June, when hesitancy in both King and Snohomish counties sunk to almost nonexistent levels at around 3%, and dipping to 6% in Pierce County.

That said, some parts of Washington remain what the IHME labels as “somewhat hesitant,” with the highest rates found in Benton and Cowlitz counties, both sitting around 11%. As for why that is, the IHME’s Director of Global Services doesn’t believe politics are to blame, despite vaccines having become a frequent debate back and forth across the aisle.

“The variance in vaccination buy-in by county is quite wide, and we should not assume it falls strictly along political lines,” he tweeted last week.

That variance can be seen in several other more traditionally conservative areas like Ferry, Lincoln, Stevens, and Spokane counties, where hesitancy ranges between 3% and 6%.

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