Early generational and partisan divides in vaccine acceptance in USA during the COVID-19 pandemic

Partisanship is a factor behind COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in USA. A growing body of research indicates that conservative Republicans demonstrate greater vaccine hesitancy than their liberal Democratic counterparts. Importantly, older adults tend to be more conservative yet exhibit less vaccine hesitancy overall. Accordingly, this study investigates age as a moderating factor in early vaccine attitudes, addressing a gap in the current literature. Leveraging protection motivation theory and data from the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (N = 15 000), our analysis suggests that the relationship between partisanship and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is conditioned by age, as measured both continuously and categorically through generational cohorts. Our primary contribution is the finding of no partisanship effect on the oldest cohort of Americans in the earliest days of COVID-19 vaccine implementation. For adults from the Silent Generation, partisanship has no systematic effect on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Furthermore, for younger partisans, vaccination attitudes are more closely tied to political identity than previously known. Our findings uncover generational diversity and provide novel insight into vaccine hesitancy across age and partisanship. Examining age interactions is crucial since age is a major risk factor for many infectious diseases worldwide. Understanding this relationship is essential to ensure that vaccine campaigns are targeted in the most effective way. We present an important contribution that is intersectional in nature, furthering research in both health behavior and politics.