--- title: Why Men Are Falling Behind in COVID-19 Vaccination description: More women than men are getting the COVID-19 shot in the U.S. What's driving that? canonical: https://time.com/6045671/covid-19-vaccine-men/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-05-04T14:22:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:11:42.898Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Men Are Falling Behind in COVID-19 Vaccination og:description: The data isn't as clear as it seems og:url: https://time.com/6045671/covid-19-vaccine-men/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4821bbcbbb15e82d/698a1952b21a9c2bc3504c6a/covid-19-vaccine-men.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: COVID-19-Vaccine-Men og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Men Are Falling Behind in COVID-19 Vaccination twitter:description: The data isn't as clear as it seems twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4821bbcbbb15e82d/698a1952b21a9c2bc3504c6a/covid-19-vaccine-men.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Men Are Falling Behind in COVID-19 Vaccination > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=d03fd9b3-75ad-4be8-8b6c-fd0278acbc73&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Making the COVID-19 Vaccine: A 50,000 step process [Watch (HLS stream): Making the COVID-19 Vaccine: A 50,000 step process](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XGIqdw9j.m3u8) (7:28)  _Published 2021-04-18. Inside BioNTech's quest to vaccinate the world_  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law May 4, 2021 2:22 PM UTC Inside BioNTech's quest to vaccinate the world  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law May 4, 2021 2:22 PM UTC In the United States, COVID-19 has been more likely to kill men than women: about 13 men have died of the disease for every 10 women, according to [data](https://globalhealth5050.org/the-sex-gender-and-covid-19-project/the-data-tracker/?explore=country&country=USA#search) collected by The Sex, Gender and Covid-19 Project at University College London. Fortunately, there’s one clear way to reduce the disparity: the three vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. have all been shown to reduce patients’ risk of dying of or being hospitalized with COVID-19 to nearly zero. However, many men in the U.S. aren’t racing to get vaccinated. As of May 3, about 38.5% of the male population has been vaccinated, compared to 43.3% of the female population, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. These data are somewhat surprising, given what prior surveys on the topic seemed to suggest: according to an April Economist/YouGov [poll,](https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/40cminy7fl/econTabReport.pdf) women were slightly more likely than men to say they had already been vaccinated (39% vs. 36%), but the unvaccinated men were slightly more likely to want the vaccine (24% vs. 21%). Rosemary Morgan, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University, and Derek Griffith, the director of the Center for Research on Men’s Health at Vanderbilt University, say a variety of forces are likely resulting in the vaccination gender imbalance thus far. For one thing, Morgan notes, women in the U.S. tend to live about five years longer than men, and make up 55% of the country’s 65-and-up population, who were eligible for their shot earlier than other groups. Women also account for a larger proportion of essential workers, who were also prioritized for vaccination—for example, as of 2019, women held about 76% of all healthcare jobs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Indeed, the gender imbalance is getting less severe over time, per TIME’s analysis of CDC data, but it persists. As of Feb. 9, women—who account for 50.8% of the U.S. population—had received 60% of the first doses administered thus far. That disparity had dropped to 56% by late March, and stands at 53.7% as of May 3. The fact that men remain comparatively under-vaccinated may come down to behavior. Women have long been more proactive about health care—during the 2019-20 influenza season, for instance, 52% of U.S. women got their flu shot, compared to just 44% of men, per CDC data. Morgan says this is partly because women often have more contact with the health care system in general—they need to seek sexual and reproductive care from an early age, and are more likely to serve as caregivers for children and older people. At least some portion of this gap could come down to politics: men are more likely to identify as Republicans, who are less likely to want the vaccine. A March NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist [poll](http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NPR%5FPBS-NewsHour%5FMarist-Poll%5FUSA-NOS-and-Tables%5F202103091124.pdf#page=3) found that only 50% of Republican men planned to get the vaccine or had already received it, compared to 60% of men generally and 92% of male Democrats. Meanwhile, only 12% of Republicans said they were very concerned about the virus, per an October [poll](https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-health-tracking-poll-october-2020-coronavirus-in-the-u-s/) from KFF. Overall, however, women have been more worried about the risk of being infected themselves, or of someone in their family getting sick. In that same NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 57% Republican women said that they planned to get the vaccine or had already received it. According to the October KFF poll, 73% of women said that they were at least somewhat worried that they or someone in their family could get COVID-19, compared to 58% of men. Accordingly, women have taken more precautions to protect themselves and the people around them from the virus, such as masking, maintaining physical distance, and seeking medical help, according to a July 2020 [review](https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2020/20%5F0247.htm) published in _Preventing Chronic Disease_. These findings suggest women may be more eager to get vaccinated in order to keep themselves and those around them safe. Men and women have also faced different economic pressures during the pandemic. Research [suggests](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/upshot/fathers-parental-leave-unequal.html) that when families are under pressure to balance work and family, men tend to prioritize work while women prioritize caregiving, even when men are eligible for paid leave. Some men, Griffith says, may view taking time off of work to get vaccinated as a distraction. Those without paid time off, meanwhile, may not want to risk side effects that could sideline them or cut into their pay. Conversely, as Morgan points out, women have disproportionately lost or quit their jobs amid the pandemic—some to take care of children or relatives—and many may view vaccination as a big step towards post-pandemic life. “I’d imagine for a lot of women, especially young mothers with young children, there’s probably a very high desirability for things to go back to normal,” Morgan says. What can be done to convince more men to get their COVID-19 vaccine? First of all, to encourage vaccination in general, it’s essential for providers to make it as quick and easy as possible, Griffith says. Moreover, public health officials need to better understand what’s holding men back in order to better address the imbalance. “Attitudes and behavior don’t necessarily align,” Griffith says. “So just because somebody is interested in something or willing to do something, doesn’t necessarily mean…they’re actually going to turn around and do it.” _—With reporting from Chris Wilson_ ## Transcript Kind: captions Language: en oh yes yes i'm vaccinated yes Very cool yes yeah yes, I did it was very cool to to know okay I'm gonna be vaccinated with a vaccine that I know really from day one I mean who can tell that they're part of the solution for such a pandemic situation I guess only a few people can say that and I'm really happy to be part of that If you've been vaccinated for COVID-19, chances are that you are benefiting from the science happening here at the German biotech company BioNtech. In December 2020 BioNtech in partnership with Pfizer were the first to earn authorization to distribute their vaccine to the public In March 2021 TIME spent a week watching how BioNtech makes a batch of 8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at their new manufacturing plant in Marburg they expect to produce 1 billion doses a year the pace of production has been breakneck from the start So in 2020 I think we worked at every holiday, I can remember Easter Saturday I was standing here pipetting samples to have the results as soon as possible and now 24-hour shifts in this lab are producing vaccines that will be shipped around the world There are approximately 50, 000 steps at the lab it begins with bags of pure mRNA the molecule that tells cells how to make the proteins that launch the immune response and a buffer solution that starts the coding process it emerges in bulk at the other end of the process as a liquid destined for vials most of the machines are named after the engineers that developed the process this one is named after Margaret the first patient in the clinical trials to receive the vaccine but the beating heart of the lab is this machine a container that uses pressurized ethanol to encase the mRNA and special lipid nanoparticles those nanoparticles keep the mRNA protected until it can jumpstart the immune response in the body's cells Speed is essential but inside the lab everyone moves slowly and methodically each of the 50,000 steps is logged by one technician confirmed by a second and only then does it actually happen it's very important that the quality of the product and all the raw materials is perfect here and so no impurities should be present in all raw materials and nothing which we don't want to have in our products one wrong move has the potential to damage the final product if there's any accidental exposure let's say from an ill-timed sneeze the entire batch must be thrown out, all eight million doses that's why everyone wears layers of protection and they even disinfect their gloved hands repeatedly in the lab where we were filming no one had ever told the technicians how many doses were in a batch after that they sprayed another application of disinfectant onto their gloves just to be sure based on our technology and on the antigen we were using no I wasn't I'm very confident in the technology we have until now vaccine development has been a slow process the BioNtech vaccine uses a new technology based on mRNA it is revolutionizing the way vaccines can be produced When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, BioNtech was primarily a cancer vaccine company but by using this new mRNA technology it was able to quickly pivot to a coronavirus vaccine when you look back at any project you've ever done you've always looked back at the start and go wow okay if I'd known that now i could have cut you know a few hurdles out of my way earlier right but you're in a situation where you're doing something especially for us as a smaller company that was unprecedented the second part of the process happens at another factory where vials are filled and packed into boxes for shipment as the cycle comes to an end there's little time to celebrate after all another batch is waiting to be made ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6045671/covid-19-vaccine-men/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6045671/covid-19-vaccine-men/"},"headline":"Why Men Are Falling Behind in COVID-19 Vaccination","datePublished":"2021-05-04T14:22:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:11:42.898Z","description":"The data isn't as clear as it 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