12/20/22

New Study Claims Unvaccinated More Likely to Crash Cars — Critics Call Findings ‘a Joke’
A new study claims people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 face a substantially higher risk of getting in a car crash than vaccinated people, which could justify higher insurance rates for the unvaccinated, prompting critics to pounce on the study’s flaws and researchers’ motives.

By The Defender Staff
People who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 face a substantially higher risk of getting in a car crash than vaccinated people, which could justify higher insurance rates for the unvaccinated, according to a study published this month in The American Journal of Medicine.

The study didn’t find that being unvaccinated causes traffic accidents. Instead, the researchers postulated that there is a psychological reason why “vaccine hesitant” people “might also neglect basic road safety guidelines.”

John Campbell, Ph.D., a nurse educator, and comedian and political commentator Russell Brand were among the critics who took issue with the study, citing its flaws and questioning the motives behind doing such a study.

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Researchers investigated correlation — not causation

The study’s authors analyzed encrypted government data from 178 Ontario medical centers and more than 11.2 million residents of the province, of whom 84% had received a COVID-19 vaccine and 16% had not as of July 31, 2021.

Among the study cohort, 6,682 people needed emergency care because they were involved in a serious car accident — either as a driver, a passenger or a pedestrian — during the one-month period the researchers analyzed.

Unvaccinated people accounted for 25% of the traffic accidents (1,682 cases), meaning they had a 72% increased risk of accidents relative to those who had taken the jab.

When researchers adjusted for other variables such as age, sex, socioeconomic status and other medical conditions, the relative increased risk for the unvaccinated dropped to 48%.

The researchers said their findings are significant because, “A relative risk of this magnitude … exceeds the safety gains from modern automobile engineering advances and also imposes risks on other road users.”

Although the authors noted the study did not investigate or demonstrate any causal link between being unvaccinated and risky driving, they proposed several possible causes for the correlation they found.

They thought there could be “a distrust of government or belief in freedom that contributes to both vaccination preferences and increased traffic risks.”

Other explanations, the researchers said, might be “misconceptions of everyday risks, faith in natural protection, antipathy toward regulation, chronic poverty, exposure to misinformation, insufficient resources, or other personal beliefs.”

The authors concluded that “COVID vaccine hesitancy is associated with significant increased risks of a traffic crash. An awareness of these risks might help to encourage more COVID vaccination.”

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Dr. Joseph Campbell: