Dying to Be Right: Covid, Anti-Vaxxers, and Cognitive Dissonance

“I just always thought it’s never going to happen to us,” Christina Lowe told NBC 7 News in San Diego earlier this month. “We thought the vaccine was rushed. We thought it was more about money and power than about Americans and protecting the people… We honestly thought that COVID was mostly political… And then it did happen to us, and then you start playing the regret game.”

On August 29th, Lowe lost her 38 year old husband Mikel to the coronavirus. She recounts how before his death, Mikel urged her to get the vaccine and promised to get it himself if he’d survive. At the same time she was receiving her injection, Lowe says that her husband was coding while in medical care. The couple, who have 5 and 6 year old boys, was forced to say goodbye over FaceTime while Mikel was unconscious. After his passing, Lowe has become a vaccine advocate, warning others against politicizing the virus and ignoring the risk.

Stories like the above have become increasingly common since the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines became widely available. Since December, 55.3% of the US population has been fully vaccinated. Yet even as that number continues to climb, a disturbing trend has emerged in those who are declining to vaccinate. A poll conducted by FiveThirtyEight in July shows that while the group of those who would rather “wait and…