Spaniards’ willingness to get Covid vaccine triples in three months

A survey by the Spanish Science Ministry shows that Spaniards are much more willing to get the Covid-19 vaccine now than they were in October of last year.

The poll shows that 58.1% feel “completely certain” that they would get vaccinated tomorrow if they had the chance. In October, only 20.2% of respondents felt this way.

Meanwhile, the percentage of people who would “never get vaccinated” has plummeted from 32.5% three months ago to 8.7% today.

The third wave of the pandemic and the emergence of new, more infectious strains may have augmented the perception of risk

The poll was conducted by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) between January 4 and 22, while Spain was administering the first doses of the Covid vaccine to priority groups and controversy was erupting over distribution problems.

The authors of the survey believe this increased willingness to get vaccinated is due to two factors that reinforce the notion that Covid inoculations are safe: the fact that they have been approved by health authorities (the European Medicines Agency) in accordance with the relevant protocols, and the rollout of the vaccination campaign without any significant problems.

Additionally, the third wave of the pandemic and the emergence of new, more infectious strains may have “augmented the perception of risk surrounding the disease as well as the social and economic consequences of the pandemic,” said the ministry in a statement.

The pollsters also believe that this upward trend will hold steady in future, and that hesitation about getting vaccinated may be reduced even further. A similar pattern has emerged in neighboring countries: in a recent YouGov survey, the percentage of citizens who already had or were willing to get the vaccine had grown around 20 points in Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom and 14 points in France since November.

English version by Susana Urra.