More and more Canadians itching to get COVID-19 vaccine: poll

WINNIPEG — More and more Canadians are hoping to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible, finds a new poll.

According to a survey from the Angus Reid Institute, in one month, the number of Canadians who plan to be immunized as soon as they can have increased by 12 percentage points. This brings the number of Canadians willing to be immunized to 60 per cent.

The poll found that 12 per cent of Canadians are still firm in their position that they will not get the COVID-19 vaccine.

This shift comes after governments around the world approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in early December, and approved the Moderna vaccine in late December. Since then, thousands of Canadians, including health-care workers, have been immunized against COVID-19.

As for specific age groups, Canadians 65 years of age or older are most eager to get the vaccine, with 73 per cent of older respondents saying they will get the COVID-19 as soon as it becomes available to them.

When broken down into a specific region, 58 per cent of Manitobans said they will get the vaccine ASAP, 23 per cent said they will get it eventually, and 11 per cent said they will not. Eight per cent of Manitobans are still unsure about the prospect of immunization.

COMFORT LEVELS

Excluding the 12 per cent of Canadians who are unwilling to be vaccinated, 86 per cent said they feel more comfortable than anxious around the idea of being immunized.

The majority of those who are willing to be vaccinated, 90 per cent, said they’d be willing to go to a doctor’s office or a walk-in clinic to receive the vaccine. Other locations the majority of people said they’d go to for the vaccine include pharmacies, mobile vaccination sites, hospitals, and drive-through vaccination sites.

THE WAITING GAME

Angus Reid asked the Canadians who are willing to be vaccinated when they expect to be immunized, with most still expecting to wait several more months. Four per cent of willing respondents said they think the vaccine will be available to them within the next month, 12 per cent said one to three months, 33 per cent said four to six months, 28 per cent said seven to nine months, and 16 per cent responded 10 to 12 months. The poll found that seven per cent of respondents expect to wait more than a year for the vaccine.

When broken down into specific provinces, the poll determined that Manitobans are the least likely to think they’ll be getting the vaccine any time soon, with 17 per cent saying they think they’ll be waiting more than a year for immunization.

More than half of Canadians (52 per cent) said the time they expect to wait for the vaccine is too long.

The poll also asked respondents about their thoughts on the distribution of the vaccine in their specific province, with 51 per cent of Manitobans saying the province is doing a bad job. Manitoba’s dissatisfaction rate is one of the highest in the country, coming second to Ontario.

METHODOLOGY

The Angus Reid Institute conducted this online survey between Jan. 7 and 10, surveying 1,580 Canadian adults. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size carries a margin of error plus-minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.