Survey shows the vast majority Australian are still keen for the jab

As Australia’s vaccine rollout slowly gathers pace with the first jabs of the AstraZeneca vaccine taking place in South Australia on Friday, the survey found 72 per cent of Australians are “very likely” to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

The number of people “very unlikely” to get the vaccine has also grown since last year, up to 10 per cent.

According to Professor Leask, a World Health Organization advisor, the most startling trend to come out of the survey was the big difference in vaccine acceptance depending on a person’s political persuasion.

The latest survey now shows substantial growth in that figure, with 19 per cent on the right now saying they’re “very unlikely” to take the vaccine. That compares to 8 per cent of those identifying with the centre and 4 per cent for those on the left.

Professor Leask said the solution to close the political gap in vaccine attitudes was to have “leaders and influencers” in Australia, “particularly on the right”, demonstrate their strong commitment to the vaccine rollout.

Safety and efficacy

According to the survey, almost 80 per cent of Australians consider the vaccines to be “very safe” or “mostly safe”.

The demographic breakdown of that data showed men and those politically aligned to the left were more trusting of the vaccines. Yet 14 per cent of people on the right of politics believed the vaccines were “not at all safe”.

How effective do you think these COVID-19 vaccines are?

On the subject of efficacy, 54 per cent believed the vaccines were “somewhat effective” and 27 per cent “very effective”.