Fri. November 19, 2021
A new survey released by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, examines COVID-19 and LGBTQ health equity.
The research shows LGBTQ people are very likely to be vaccinated.
Ninety-one percent of the 1,500 surveyed adults said that they had already been vaccinated. Only 6 percent said that they had no plans to get vaccinated.
Jay Brown, senior vice president of programs, research, and training at HRC, said that the data suggests disproportionately higher rates of infection among LGBTQ people.
“Even though LGBTQ+ people are likely getting vaccinated at impressively high rates, the evidence suggests that the community may have also gotten COVID-19 at disproportionately higher rates and are far more concerned about the dangers of the Delta variant,” Brown said. “The data shows what we have long known – those living at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities bear the brunt of this pandemic. We are living through a global health crisis with no clear end in sight, that is why it is crucial for every person to get vaccinated and for vaccination efforts to be inclusive of marginalized communities.”
HRC's David Paisley noted that there were unique concerns in the LGBTQ community, such as questions about how the vaccine interacts with HIV medications and hormone therapies.
“This research is crucial because it is the first-of-its-kind and it achieved such a large number of LGBTQ+ participants – that allows researchers to understand COVID-19 response differences within our community by gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and generation,” Paisley said. “The data also allows us to understand the unique concerns within our community, such as vaccine interaction concerns with HIV medications and hormone therapies.”
Roughly 20 percent of LGBT adults reported having a bout with the virus.
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