Confidence in vaccines grows with rollouts

Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines is growing, with willingness to have shots increasing as they are rolled out across the world and concerns about possible side effects fading.

A survey co-led by Imperial College London and polling firm YouGov, has found trust in vaccines has risen in nine of 14 countries, including France, Japan and Singapore which had previously had low confidence.

The latest update of the survey, which ran from February 8 to February 21, found people in the UK are the most willing, with 77 per cent saying they would take a vaccine designed if one was available that week.

This is up from 55 per cent in November, shortly before the first COVID-19 vaccine - co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech - gained regulatory approval for use in Britain.

People in France, Singapore and Japan remained among the least willing to have a vaccine, at 40 per cent, 48 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively.

However all three have seen confidence rise since November when only 25 per cent, 36 per cent and 39 per cent of people were positive.

The survey also found worries over vaccine side effects have faded in the majority of countries, with 45 per cent of all respondents currently reporting concern.

Again, people in France, Singapore and Japan are currently most worried about side effects, with around 6 in 10 feeling concerned (56 per cent, 59 per cent, 61 per cent), while the UK is the least concerned.

The latest survey involved more than 13,500 people in Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and Sweden.