Someday, a Ph. D. student at Harvard will compose his or her dissertation on “Human Behavior During the Covid Pandemic.”

And, in that work, there will be several chapters on the anti-vaxxers who steadfastly refused to get the vaccine, no matter what.

The critics of that recalcitrant segment of the population will suggest that one of those chapters should be entitled, “Don’t Confuse Me With the Facts, My Mind Is Made-up.”

Those critics conclude the facts are clear.

The vast majority of those residents in a Michigan hospital bed right now with coronavirus infection have not been vaccinated.

The vast majority of the COVID-19 daily cases in Michigan are among those not vaccinated.

And the majority of daily deaths are … well, you get the critic’s point.

Yet, when you add all that up, a good chunk of folks could care less.

Maybe you know some of them?

Which raises the question, who are those residents who march to a different drummer than the 60-some percent of the state who are fully or partially vaccinated?

For that part of the story, we go to noted pollster Richard Czuba, the CEO of the Glengarriff Michigan polling firm, who uncovered the following data:

∫ First of all, those persons make up about 17% of our population.

∫ 75% are younger than 50 and 64% of those are men

∫ 71% have not earned a college degree

∫ 70% are Republicans

∫ And here’s one all of you readers can relate to: 66% reside in outstate Michigan, meaning they’re not from the widely populated regions of downstate.

That, of course, is just one more example on how this state is divided north and south, and the differences are palpable in so many ways.

The anti-vaxxer attitude is part of the challenge public health officials and some politicians are grappling with as they ask themselves, “How can we beat this virus if almost 20% won’t get the shots?”

Diving deeper in Mr. Czuba’s research, he looked at where those residents are getting their information.

While the bulk of the state is still watching, listening, and reading the local news but in ever-decreasing numbers, the anti-shot contingency gets 40% of their news from social media, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and the like, and 15% only watch the news on Fox.

In other words, they are going to the news sources that reinforce their personal beliefs, and, therefore, any information that is counter to that never gets into their heads.

As an outgrowth of that behavior, 9% of those surveyed are convinced that, just like the presidential election was a hoax, so is COVID-19, the 20,000-plus deceased Michigan residents notwithstanding.

Of course that Harvard grad student will want to know how so many residents could disagree with their friends and neighbors?

According to the research, many of their attitudes are driven by their political leanings, which apparently trumps any critical thinking about the shots. And, ironically, former President Donald Trump, who is vaccinated, has failed to reverse the thinking of his legions, many of whom booed their guy when he suggested at a rally that they get in the shot line.

While that dissertation would make an interesting read down the road, there is a more pressing societal debate unfolding as the vaccinated are increasingly arguing the following: Many feel those who are not inoculated are impacting the health of those who are, which elevates the debate of personal freedom vs. doing something for the good of all to a contentious level.

That will be an interesting chapter to read, as well.