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Report: Overcoming barriers to vaccination and citizens' deliberate choices - Dr Manu Savani

06_Vaccination

This work was supported by a British Academy, and co-authored by Dr Manu Savani (Brunel University London) grant as part of the 'Covid-19 Recovery' initiative. Dr Savani was a co-Investigator, alongside colleagues at LSE, Kings College London, University of Toronto and Dartmouth College. Authors conducted a large, cross-country survey of the G7 nations, to better understand vaccination outcomes and their drivers. Based on representative samples collected over Jan-Feb 2022, they report:

  • 13% of people remain unvaccinated across the G7. The vast majority of them say they do not want to receive the vaccine (87%), rather than it being difficult to access, indicating it is becoming harder to persuade the unvaccinated at this stage of the pandemic.  

  • Trust in Covid vaccines is reasonably high, at 78% across the G7. But lower in France (67%) and the US (71%); and highest in Italy (85%) and the UK (85%), 

  • Women trust the vaccine less than men. 75% of women say they trust the vaccine compared to 81% of men across the G7. Trust amongst women is lowest in France (where only 62% of women say they trust the vaccine) and the US (65%), and highest in the UK (84%)  

  • Most people identified public health professionals (their doctor or health care provider) as the figure they trusted most to decide whether to have a COVID-19 vaccine or a booster. This was particularly true for older respondents. 

  • People who rely on social media as the primary source of COVID-19 news were less trusting of the vaccine and less likely to be vaccinated

Read the Summary Report to find out more