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Are You a Vaccine Supporter, Hesitant, Obligated, Skeptical or Anti-Vaxxer?
As a country, in order to achieve herd immunity, 60%-80% of the population needs to be immune (not only vaccinated). But we live in free societies (not?), so there are differences in opinions and views. In fact, it’s estimated that one-third of people globally have some major concerns.
Using survey data from eight different countries, Global Web Index created five archetypes to help illustrate how typical attitudes towards vaccines differ depending on a range of factors, such as age, income, lifestyle, and values.
Vaccine Supporters
66% of them support the idea to get the mRNA vaccine. And be aware, this is a vaccine, which is not fully developed. This is an experimental vaccine! To give you an idea of vaccine development, let's compare it with the existing vaccines: Name of Pandemic Death Toll Timeframe for Vaccine Development Duration Spanish flu 40-50 million 1917-1942 25 years H2N2 Asian flu 1.1 million Feb 1957-Jun 1957 <5 months H3N2 Hong Kong Flu 1 million Jul 1968-Nov 1968 <5 months SARS 774 (ongoing) 2003-present 17 years (ongoing) Ebola 11,300 1976-2019 43 years AIDS 25-35 million (ongoing) 1981-present 39 years (ongoing) H1N1 Swine Flu 151,700 - 575,400 Apr 2009-Sept 2009 6 months MERS 858 (ongoing) 2012-present 8 years (ongoing) Coronavirus 1.64 million (ongoing) Dec 2019-Nov 2020 11 months
Vaccine hesitant
The vaccine hesitant group, which is more common among cautious suburban parents, makes up 12% of the total study. They are more likely to be female, and feel anxious about the length of time spent testing vaccines and therefore require more transparency around the science.
Vaccine Obligated
The vaccine obligated group makes up 11% of the total, and has a skew towards males aged between 16 and 24 years old. People who will only get the vaccine if it’s necessary for travel, school, work etc.
While this group is also concerned with potential side-effects, their responses suggesting that a vaccine may not be necessary to combat COVID-19 was above average compared to other segments in the study. They also index above average when it comes to viewing themselves as traditionalists.
Vaccine Skeptical
The vaccine skeptical group makes up another 11% of the total. People who won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine. However, this group is mostly female, who are aged between 45-64 and earn a lower-than-average income. They are less likely to have a college degree, and are more likely to live in a rural area.
Along with the worry of potential side-effects, this group is generally more pessimistic about containing COVID-19 at all. Therefore a small percentage do not believe a vaccine will help tackle the global health crisis.
Anti-Vaxxers
It is important to note that those who choose not to get a COVID-19 vaccine should not be confused with anti-vaxxers. People who will not get the vaccine, because they are against vaccines in general.
Anti-vaxxers are a sub-segment of the vaccine skeptical group that makes up 1.4% of the total population. The difference is, anti-vaxxers do not believe in getting any vaccine due to safety concerns, not just not a vaccine for COVID-19.
According to the study, anti-vaxxers tend to fall into one of two age brackets, between 16-24 years or 55-64 years old, and are typically males with lower incomes.