More than one third of Russians (38%) plan to take the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a survey carried out by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center.
"As many as 38% of respondents are going to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, with the most of them over 60 years old, the most vulnerable group for the virus (49%), as well as Russians aged from 45 to 59 (44%). A total of 52% do not want get the jab, this share is higher among young Russians aged from 25 to 34 (70%)," according to the survey.
The most frequent reasons for coronavirus vaccine hesitancy are poor study of the vaccine (23%), distrust and fear of vaccination (16%), and health condition (13%). Furthermore, 9% of residents do not believe in the vaccine’s effectiveness.
The vast majority of respondents (84%) who plan to get the shot, prefer the domestic vaccine, whereas another 7% want to get vaccinated with a foreign one. A total of 29% are going to take the vaccine this year, 13% - in January 2021, 12% - in February, 9% - in March, TASS reported.
In general, 97% are aware of mass vaccination against the coronavirus with a Russian vaccine to varying degrees. Some 58% of respondents know a lot about the vaccination, while 39% are informed but without going into details. A total of 3% heard about the COVID-19 vaccination campaign for the first time.
The nationwide survey was conducted on December 11-19 via telephone interviews with 1,600 respondents above 18. The margin of error does not exceed 2.5% at the 95% confidence level.
