Where in California are COVID vaccinations lagging among seniors? Trump Country

Elderly residents in California counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump are getting vaccinated against COVID-19 at lower rates than elderly residents living elsewhere in the state, according to a Bee review of federal data.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes vaccination data, broken down by age, for 50 of the state’s 58 counties. In eighteen of those counties, a majority of voters cast ballots for Trump in November.

About 48% of elderly residents in counties that went for Trump were fully vaccinated as of Sunday, compared to 54% of elderly residents elsewhere in the state.

Eight of the ten counties with the lowest vaccination rates among the elderly went for Trump. By comparison, only one of the 10 counties with the highest vaccination rates among the elderly — Placer County — went for Trump.

In Tehama County, just 28% of elderly residents were vaccinated as of Sunday, the lowest rate in the state. About 67% of voters in Tehama County voted for Trump.

The three other counties in the state with elderly vaccination rates lower than 40% as of Sunday — Del Norte, Kings and Shasta counties — all voted for Trump by a wide margin.

For nearly three months, the state has given priority access to vaccines to residents 65 and older. Elderly Californians make up about 11% of the state’s confirmed COVID-19 cases — but 74% of its COVID-19 deaths.

A recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 39% of Republicans in the state said they would definitely or probably not get the vaccine, compared to 19% of independents and 10% of Democrats.

Trump was vaccinated in January, and he has encouraged his supporters to get vaccinated. “I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly,” Trump told “Fox News Primetime” in March.

The CDC data contains residence information for about 97% of elderly vaccinated Americans. The remaining 3% did not have a place of residence listed.

This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 4:54 AM with the headline "Where in California are COVID vaccinations lagging among seniors? Trump Country."