WSU Researcher: One In Six Couples Have Different COVID vaccination

Listen: Doug Nadvornick reports on a new study about COVID vaccinations amongst couples / Runtime – 1:05

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A Washington State University researcher has found that COVID vaccination status differs in about one-in-six intimate couples.

Karen Schmaling, a professor of psychology at WSU’s Vancouver campus, conducted a crowd sourcing survey of about 13-hundred people. Sixty-three percent reported both partners are vaccinated. Twenty-one percent reported neither is vaccinated. The other 16 percent have one of each.

In questioning people about the reasons for not vaccinating, she found number one is worries about vaccine safety. Others cited medical reasons or differences in viewpoint about the vaccine.

“It could be, for example, even if their behavior looks like there’s a difference, their attitudes might not reflect that difference, meaning, for example, one person might have had to get vaccinated to keep their job, but they would have preferred not to. That would also be interesting to examine,” Schmaling said. 

Schmaling is interested in learning more about couples that do disagree on this fundamental question. Are there problems with their relationships? Or is just an anomaly?

Schmaling’s results were published recently in the journal Vaccine.