Vaccine hesitancy in the United States towards the COVID-19 vaccines has existed since the early stages of the vaccines' development. COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant people are not necessarily anti-vaccine. Soon after the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic, preexisting anti-vaxxer social networks started online and in-person campaigns to discredit the developing
COVID-19 vaccines targeting United States citizens. Anti-vaccination influencers used Twitter and other social media platforms to spread vaccine misinformation. Some in the medical field have given false credibility to vaccine hesitant beliefs. This caused the
Federation of State Medical Boards to issue a statement in July 2021 that any physicians who generate and spread vaccine misinformation or disinformation would risk disciplinary action. White House sources revealed in March 2021 that Trump and his wife,
Melania, had secretly received the COVID-19 vaccine in January. In April 2021, Trump referred to the COVID-19 vaccine as a "true miracle" and encouraged his supporters to take it. In September 2021, Trump revealed to journalist
Adam Shapiro that he received the
Pfizer version of the vaccine and encouraged the general public to take the vaccine. In the same interview, Trump blamed president Biden for the public's lack of trust in the vaccine: "When I was president, everybody wanted to get the vaccine... after I left, people don't want to take it and... I think it's because they don't trust Biden."
Ipsos polling data shows that vaccine hesitancy dropped from 63% in September 2020 to 20% in September 2021. The change was accompanied by COVID-19 fatigue, the
Delta variant surge, and the FDA's formal approval of the Pfizer vaccine.
Anti-vaccine public figures who died from COVID-19 Many news reports in 2021 noted when vaccine opponents died from COVID-19, though some criticized the practice as celebrating the suffering of others. In August 2021, a number of
conservative talk radio hosts who had discouraged COVID-19 vaccination, or expressed skepticism toward the COVID-19 vaccine, died from COVID-19 complications. These included Marc Bernier (self-nicknamed "Mr. Antivax") from Daytona, Florida;
Dick Farrel, an
anti-vaccine activist who referred to the pandemic as a "SCAM DEMIC"; and
Phil Valentine. In September 2021, another anti-vaccine conservative radio host,
Bob Enyart, died of COVID-19. In November 2021,
Marcus Lamb, an American televangelist and co-founder of the
Daystar Television Network, who promoted skepticism toward all vaccines, died of COVID-19. Anti-vaccine podcaster Doug Kuzma fell ill shortly after attending the right-wing conference "
ReAwaken America" in December 2021, and died of COVID-19 the following month. In August 2021, Caleb Wallace, a Texas advocate against mask and vaccine mandates, died of COVID-19. Kelly Ernby, a 46-year old deputy district attorney in
Orange County, California who was also a
California state assembly candidate and a critic of vaccine mandates, died January 2022, of COVID-19; she was not vaccinated. Kelly Canon, an anti-vaccine activist in
Arlington, Texas, also died of COVID-19 in January 2022. Washington state trooper Robert LeMay was fired in October 2021, after refusing to be vaccinated despite a state mandate. He explained his position in a video that became popular online, and he died of COVID-19 in January 2022. == Reasons ==