Dr Manu Savani was a co-Investigator, alongside colleagues at LSE, Kings College London, University of Toronto and Dartmouth College in the report on barriers to vaccination. Their work was supported by a British Academy grant as part of the 'Covid-19 Recovery' initiative. Scientists conducted a large, cross-country survey of the G7 nations, to better understand vaccination outcomes and their drivers. Based on representative samples collected over Jan-Feb 2022, they report:
- 13% of people remain unvaccinated across the G7. The vast majority of them say they do not want to receive the vaccine (87%), rather than it being difficult to access, indicating it is becoming harder to persuade the unvaccinated at this stage of the pandemic.
- Trust in Covid vaccines is reasonably high, at 78% across the G7. But lower in France (67%) and the US (71%); and highest in Italy (85%) and the UK (85%),
- Women trust the vaccine less than men. 75% of women say they trust the vaccine compared to 81% of men across the G7. Trust amongst women is lowest in France (where only 62% of women say they trust the vaccine) and the US (65%), and highest in the UK (84%)
- Most people identified public health professionals (their doctor or health care provider) as the figure they trusted most to decide whether to have a COVID-19 vaccine or a booster. This was particularly true for older respondents.
- People who rely on social media as the primary source of COVID-19 news were less trusting of the vaccine and less likely to be vaccinated.
Read the Summary Report to find out more. Further research and analysis is underway on the different policy approaches taken by the G7 nations, what makes people accept more stringent policy approaches, and whether nudge strategies work to encourage vaccination take-up.
Contact manu.savani@brunel.ac.uk with any feedback or suggestions.