Survey suggests Canadians’ willingness to get vaccine is inscreasing

By: Vincenzo Morello

A new survey suggests that Canadians’ willingness to get the vaccine right away has increased.

The online Angus Reid Institute poll, published Monday, was conducted with a randomized sample of 1,748 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum between March 1 and March 4.

According to the survey, 66 per cent of respondents said that they would get a vaccine as soon as it is possible, an increase when compared to a survey in November where only 40 per cent of respondents said they would get a vaccine when it was available.

Meanwhile, 16 per cent of respondents said they would eventually get a vaccine, but would wait, and 12 per cent said they would not get the vaccine when it was available to them.

Canadians are still critical of the federal government’s effort to acquire vaccine doses.

The survey found that over half, 56 per cent, of respondents said that the government has done a poor job of acquiring doses, and only 28 per cent said that the government was doing a good job.

The survey also found that just over half of respondents, 54 per cent, said they were not confident that the federal government will effectively manage vaccine distribution when they become available, and 41 per cent said they were confident.

Canadians also had different opinions about when to expect the vaccine to be available to them.

Only seven per cent of respondents said they expected the vaccine to be available in March, 12 per cent said April or May, 17 per cent said June or July, and 23 per cent said August or September.

Another group, 20 per cent, said they expected the vaccine to be available later in 2021, and eight per cent said it will not be available until 2022.