People living in areas with a strong coal mining tradition are more likely to have negative attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccinations and lockdown measures to those in areas without this history, according to a team of researchers from Wales and the United States.

Take up of the vaccine was high despite this, particularly in Wales, and feeling part of a strong local community made people more likely to accept the offer of vaccination.

Researchers affiliated with Bangor University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Public Health Wales and the University of Kentucky conducted surveys and interviews asking 9,000 people living in Wales and Central Appalachia about vaccination status and views on COVID-19, economic status, social lives, and political preferences. Their findings are published in a new report, Covid and the Coalfield: Vaccine hesitance in Wales and Appalachia.