Google Trends: COVID-19 Safety
As vaccines take over, mask mandates are lifted
View the interactive chart
Our nation is starting to finally see the light at the end of a year-long tunnel as more and more Americans are doing their part to end this Pandemic and receive their Covid-19 vaccines. Along with the rise of vaccines, the mask mandates are starting to be lifted in states across the country. President Joe Biden tweets out an official CDC announcement that fully vaccinated people no longer are required to wear masks and encourages everyone to get their vaccinations. As shown in the graphic above more Americans are seeking out information for Covid-19 vaccines as well as mask mandates. Mask mandate searches peaked from May 9th-15th 2021 when Biden’s announcement was released on May 13th.
Google searches for Covid-19 vaccines begin to climb steadily starting in 2021 but fall off in trends by April. However, mask mandate searches skyrocket starting at the beginning of March and stay trending to the present day. Are Americans more interested in getting rid of their masks than they are becoming vaccinated? Or has the year-long quarantine and masks just have people itching to go back to their normal lives? A Consumer Report Survey shows that some Americans are actually hesitant to stop wearing masks, even after getting vaccinated. Almost a fifth of our nation has stated they plan to continue wearing masks for a while as we reach the end of this Pandemic.
Google Trends: Pfizer vs. Moderna Vaccine
Which vaccine is more trusted by the American people
As more vaccines become available to the public, the comparison between vaccines has grown more popular. In fear of the long-term side effects of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, most people are choosing to get Pfizer or Moderna to be vaccinated with. Within the last 3 months, both of these vaccines have been trending across google searches, as you can see in the graph above Pfizer continuously beats Moderna in google trends. With the exception of February 23rd- March 5th, when Pfizer takes the lead. A Stat Newsletter showed that the Pfizer vaccine has a 95% efficacy rate at preventing Covid-19 and the Moderna vaccine with 94.1%.
The question I have however is why have so many people been drawn to the Pfizer vaccine over Moderna? When looking at the interactive chart we see when it is broken down by subregion, only 3 out of the 50 states have google trends higher for Moderna. While the remainder of the 47 states has higher google trends for Pfizer. The overall high trending status of both these vaccines shows us how a good number of Americans are seizing the opportunities to receive their vaccinations no matter which kind.
