Regional variations in vaccination against COVID-19 in Germany

Abstract

Vaccination willingness against COVID-19 is generally perceived as too low. Moreover, there is large heterogeneity across and within countries. As a whole, Germany has average vaccination rates compared to other industrialized countries. However, vaccination rates in the 16 different German federal states differ by more than 20 percentage points. We describe variation in vaccination on the level of the 400 German counties using data on all vaccinations carried out until December 2022. Around 45-72% of that variation can be explained by regional differences in demographic characteristics, housing, education and political party preferences. We find indications that the remaining part may be due to differences in soft factors such as risk aversion, trust in the German government, trust in science, and beliefs in conspiracy theories regarding the origins of the Corona virus.