Vaccine confidence, demand rises worldwide: Survey
Confidence was found to be very high in Brazil (89%), Italy (85%) and China (82%)
There have been notable increases in Covid-19 vaccination intent, with a majority wanting to be vaccinated as soon as possible, a World Economic Forum/Ipsos survey has found.
"The trends are good, but new variants are more contagious and with vaccination intention rates reflected in the study, we would not reach levels of herd immunity," said Arnaud Bernaert, head of health and healthcare at the World Economic Forum.
"Experts suggest between 70% and 85% of a population should be vaccinated in order for herd immunity to be achieved," he continued.
"Communication and education efforts are more critical than ever. We are on track, but should not relax our efforts," he added.
Earlier, a survey by Facebook and the University of Maryland said in February that more than 64% of people in Bangladesh intend to take the vaccines.
Over 13,500 adults under the age of 75 participated in the World Economic Forum survey between 25-28 February on the global advisor online platform of Ipsos, a multinational market research and consulting firm headquartered in Paris, says a press release.
The surveyed countries are: Canada, South Africa, the United States (US), Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK).
A previous study was conducted between 17-20 December last year.
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 participating in the latest survey.
Confidence was found to be very high in: Brazil (89%), Italy (85%), China (82%), Spain (82%), Mexico (80%), and South Korea (80%). It was fairly high in: Canada (79%), Australia (78%), Japan (74%), and Germany (74%).
While confidence was "in the middle" in the US (65%), South Africa (65%) and France (59%), it was low in Russia (42%).
Breaking down the data further, the percentage of those who answered "strongly agree" that they will get vaccinated has increased in every one of the 15 countries since the December survey.
Within the "strongly agree" category, since mid-December, eight of the 15 countries have seen an uptick in vaccine intent of more than 20 percentage points. Italy topped this category where 62% strongly agreed that they would get vaccinated, up 36 percentage points.
Spain saw 31 percentage points increase to 57%, the UK up 24 to 70%, Brazil up 24 to 76%, France up 23 to 35%, Mexico up 22 to 64%, Canada up 21 to 60%, and Germany up 21 to 51%.
The countries showing the smallest gains are Russia (+2 to 16%) and the US (+3 to 41%).
How soon would you be vaccinated?
In 11 of the 15 countries surveyed, most plan to get the vaccine immediately or within one month once it is available to them.
This was the answer given by 85% of respondents in Brazil and the UK, 78% in Mexico, 73% in Spain, 72% in Germany and Italy, 69% in Canada, 67% in France and the US, as well as 64% in South Africa.