Just 55% would try Covid vaccine
People divided over jab, survey reveals
JUST over half of Irish people would take a Covid19 vaccine if one was made available, a survey shows.
The startling divide over a new jab comes as a leading i mmunologist has warned against thinking a vaccine alone will eradicate the virus.
According to the survey, conducted by Ipsos MRBI for the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, which represents the pharmaceutical industry, just 55% of people said that they would take a Covid-19 vaccine if there was one.
A further third of respondents said they were unsure, while 12% said they would not take it.
Professor of immunology at Maynooth University, Paul Moynagh, said a strategy ‘beyond the vaccine’ for Covid-19 needs to be looked at because it is ‘ naive’ to think that i t will eradicate the virus on its own.
‘I think the vaccine is really important. It’d be a really important contributor to dealing with Covid-19 and reducing its impact, but thinking that the vaccine is going to be released and that this is going to be the panacea and this is going to, you know, eradicate the virus, I think that’s very naive,’ he told Newstalk. ‘ In terms of strategy going forward, we need to look beyond that.’
Speaking about the results of the survey, Prof Moynagh said the number willing to take the vaccine would ideally be higher. ‘Generally in terms of developing vaccines, it’s quite a long process taking a number of years. Prior to this, the fastest vaccine ever developed was for mumps, which was around four years,’ he said.
To the remaining 45% of people unsure about taking the vaccine, he said: ‘Look at the data. Within the next four to five weeks, we should know and get some of the readouts from the phase three trials and then look at the data in terms of how effective, how safe these vaccines are.’
He added that agencies such as the World Health Organisation are defining success on the vaccine as at least 50% protection. So if only 50% of the population takes it ‘that essentially means we really only have 20-25%, of the population protected,’ he said.
‘In terms of herd immunity, [it] probably needs to get to that 6070% in order for that to kick in.’
According to the survey, those aged over 65 were most likely to say they would take the vaccine, followed by those aged 35-44. Meanwhile, those in younger demographics were the least likely to take the vaccine, with just 18% of those aged 18 to 24, and 19% of those aged 25 to 34.
IPHA chief executive Oliver O’Connor said : ‘Although all of us want to see the back of the pandemic, it is not about how fast we can get a vaccine. What matters is that it is safe and that it works.’
There are currently more than 150 Covid-19 vaccines in development around the world, with a dozen in the final clinical trials.