A new survey report by the World Economic Forum on Covid-19 vaccine confidence revealed that a strong intent to get a vaccine has risen in the United Kingdom and the United States. The two countries have already started rolling out their vaccine for the public.

However, the survey has also stated that the vaccine confidence has dropped in most other countries surveyed. The main reason people say they would not get a Covid-19 vaccine is concern about side effects.

For the survey, the WEF’s team has studied 13,500 individuals across 15 countries between December 17-20.

According to the survey, vaccination intent is highest in China, where 80 per cent of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement “if a vaccine for Covid-19 were available, I would get it.”

Countries with fairly high intent include Brazil (78 per cent), the UK (77 per cent), Mexico (77 per cent), Australia (75 per cent) and South Korea (75 per cent).

Among the countries surveyed, those whose populations reported the lowest intent were South Africa (53 per cent), Russia (43 per cent) and France (40 per cent).

The report noted that since October, the percentage of respondents that are willing to get the Covid-19 vaccine has increased in the US by 5 points.

At the same time, it has dropped across all the other countries surveyed, with the most notable declines in South Africa (-15 points), France (-14), Japan (-9), and South Korea (-8).

December also marks the first time since August that overall vaccination confidence was below 50 per cent in any country.

Looking just at those who strongly agree with the statement shows the US with an increase of 9 points (to 38 per cent) and the UK with an increase in 5 points (to 46 per cent).

In every country surveyed, between 57-80 per cent of those who say they would not take a Covid-19 vaccine report concern about the side effects (up from 34 per cent in October).

This concern was highest in South Korea (80 per cent), Japan (76 per cent) and France (72 per cent).

Last year, the World Health Organization stated public hesitancy towards vaccination as one of the Top 10 Threats to Global Health.

This survey shows that more must be done to promote safe, inclusive distribution - and increase confidence in vaccines around the world, WEF added in its report.

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