Vaccine acceptance is on the rise
May 15, 2021
Abacus Data is proud to be supporting the research and polling for the Faster Together Task Group
The latest tracking polling by Abacus Data shows that the number of people who are willing to be vaccinated is on the rise, and the number of people hesitant or refusing to take a Covid-19 vaccine is at a new low.
Abacus has been providing data on vaccine opinions to a volunteer Task Group of organizations and individuals who are preparing to launch a campaign to help encourage Canadians to get vaccinated, under the banner “Faster Together”. The main thrust of the campaign will be to remind people that when people choose to be vaccinated, this can bring us all back together again, more quickly. Bruce Anderson Chairman of Abacus and Hassan Yussuf, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, co-chair the Task Group.
The latest data (collected through 1500 interviews nationwide from May 7 to 12) show that the number of people who’ve already had a shot or who will take one as soon as it is available to them now stands at 71%, up from 63% only a couple of weeks ago.
Today 46% report having already had at least one shot, and another 25% say they will get one as soon as it is available to them. A total of 29% show some measure of hesitancy, as follows: 16% say they will be vaccinated, but prefer to wait a bit longer, 5% say they would prefer not to be vaccinated but could be persuaded to, and 8% say they will never be vaccinated.
The major factors influencing hesitancy are concern that the long-term impacts of the vaccines may not be known and worries about the risk of blood clots. A rising number of those who are hesitant indicate that they would prefer not to take an Astra Zeneca shot and wait instead for the availability of a different vaccine. Today, 85% say they would be comfortable taking the Pfizer vaccine, 71% for Moderna, 47% for Johnson and Johnson and 40% for Astra Zeneca.
Hesitancy levels are not equal across different parts of the population. Those exhibiting more hesitancy than average include Albertans, men under 45, those with less formal education and those who self-describe as right of centre on the political spectrum.
According to Bruce Anderson: “While demand is stalling in the US, there is growth in demand for vaccinations in Canada. There is a chance of vaccinating between 87% and 92% of the population over the coming months. Hesitation about Astra Zeneca is visible in our numbers, but as more people get a shot and experience minimal side effects, and as people begin to imagine an end to pandemic restrictions, on balance people are increasingly willing and ready to take this step.”
According to Hassan Yussuf: “Getting vaccinated is the quickest way for all of us to get back together safely and return our economy to health.”
FASTER TOGETHER
Over the last several weeks more than 40 organizations representing business and industrial sectors, labour unions, as well as individuals have come together to develop a campaign set to launch in the coming weeks, which is designed to spread messages that encourage vaccination take up.
For more information – including how to join this all-volunteer Task Group – please contact Bruce Anderson banderson@abacusdata.ca (613-882-0929 )or Hassan Yussuff hyussuff@clcctc.ca (613-851-7881).
METHODOLOGY
The survey was conducted with 1,500 Canadian adults from May 9-12, 2021. A random sample of panelists were invited to complete the survey from a set of partner panels based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are typically double opt-in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source.
The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.1%, 19 times out of 20.
The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
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