Pollwatch: keen for a vaccine?

More than half of Britons say they are ‘keen’ to have the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

The news of a potential vaccine offers hope that a way out of the pandemic is on the horizon, and will be welcome news for the majority of Brits who would be keen to vaccinate themselves.

...half (52%) of UK adults overall support making the vaccine compulsory for all UK citizens who are not medically exempt

More than half (57%) of Britons say that they would be ‘keen’ to have the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine once it is approved and if it was available through the NHS, according to the latest polling from Savanta ComRes.

This figure is almost four times as many as those who say that they would be ‘reluctant’ to have it (15%), while a quarter (24%) say they are somewhere in the middle, and 4% didn’t know.

Those aged 55+ are the most keen to get the vaccine (70%), compared to just under half of of those aged 18-34 (47%). Men are also more likely to say that they would be keen to get the vaccine than women – 61% vs 53%.

The poll comes as news of a second Covid-19 vaccine, developed by US firm Moderna, claims to be even more effective than the Pfizer one that the UK Government has already ordered.

If the vaccine was readily available in the UK, more than a third (37%) of people say that the UK would return to normality in six months or less, while almost two thirds (63%) say that the UK would be back to normal within a year. However, one in ten people say that the UK will never return to normality after Covid-19, regardless of the availability of a vaccine.

Of those who would be reluctant to take the vaccine, more than half (53%) say that it’s because they do not believe the vaccine to be safe or that it has too many side-effects. Additionally, a third (33%) say that they can’t trust the companies that produce the vaccine while a quarter (23%) say that they do not believe the vaccine to be effective.

Despite this, half (52%) of UK adults overall support making the vaccine compulsory for all UK citizens who are not medically exempt, compared to just a fifth (20%) who oppose.

Those aged 55+ are the most likely to support the vaccine being complusory, with two thirds saying this (63%). Support is lowest amongst those aged 18-34, with just over two in five saying this (44%).