According to MLive, 100% of Michigan Senate Democrats and 71% of Michigan House Democrats have received the COVID-19 vaccine. On the other hand, 30% of Michigan Senate Republicans and 17% of Michigan House Republicans are immunized. These numbers lead the discussion of how leadership affects general vaccination rates. Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, weighed in on the debate.
"I think that had President Trump gotten vaccinated in a very high profile way, that might have shifted some opinion, but I actually don't think that all of his supporters would have been running out to get a vaccine even if he had," she said. "At the end of the day, this is where the Trump supporter(s) and people of color in Detroit have something in common. They have very different feelings, probably, about the ways in which government is not representing them, but at the end of the day, that's where they kind of meet."
