Peter Kenny
12 March 2021•Update: 12 March 2021
GENEVA
Just over a year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, a new World Economic Forum/Ipsos survey on Friday found notable increases in COVID-19 vaccination intent, with a majority wanting to be vaccinated as soon as possible.
Over 13,500 adults under 75 participated in the survey between Feb. 25-28 on the Ipsos’ Global Advisor online platform.
The previous study was conducted between Dec. 17-20, 2020.
“The trends are good, but new variants are more contagious, and with vaccination intention rates as they are currently reflected in the study, we would not reach herd immunity,” said Arnaud Bernaert, WEF’s head of health and healthcare.
He noted that experts suggest between 70% and 85% of a population be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil, France, Mexico, Canada, and Germany have seen the most significant uptick in vaccine intent, rising by more than 20 points in just three months, said WEF.
“Communication and education efforts are more critical than ever. We are on track but should not relax our efforts,” said Bernaert.
Adults who strongly or somewhat agree they would get a vaccine against COVID-19 make up a majority in all but one of the 15 countries surveyed.
Very high confidence was reported in Brazil (89%), Italy (85%), China (82%), Spain (82%), Mexico (80%), and South Korea (80%); while fairly high in Canada (79%), Australia (78%), Japan (74%), and Germany (74%).
The US saw 65%, South Africa (65%), France (59%) and Russia (42%) of people intending to be vaccinated.
Breaking down the data further, the percentage of those who answered “strongly agree” has increased in every one of the 15 countries since a similar survey was conducted in December.
Since then, within this “strongly agree” category, eight of the 15 countries saw an uptick in vaccine intent of more than 20 percentage points.
In 11 of the 15 countries surveyed, most plan to get the vaccine immediately or within one month once it is available to them.
The countries showing the most negligible gains are Russia (+2 to 16%) and the United States (+3 to 41%).
