Irish people are more willing to get vaccines than people in many other countries, though there is a “sizeable minority” whoare sceptical or uncertain, a new survey has found.
On Thursday RED C polling company will publish research on vaccine acceptance as part of a global examination on the topic to mark the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) national immunisation week. According to the survey, Ireland ranked 13th globally for acceptance of traditional vaccines, and 10 out of the 38 participating countries for accepting an approved mRNA vaccination.
The report shows 67 per cent of Irish adults are open to taking mRNA jabs, higher than the global and European averages which were both at 60 per cent.
For the more traditional vaccines 73 per cent of people in Ireland said they were willing to get it, up from the 68 per cent recorded globally.
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Traditional vaccine acceptance is higher than that for the new mRNA vaccines in Ireland, and everywhere else that was examined. Some one in four adults in Ireland claim they would not be likely to take mRNA vaccines, while one in five said they would not take traditional vaccines.
Parents of dependent children and those in lower social grades are among the least accepting of both traditional and mRNA vaccines, which the researchers said suggests a need to raise awareness and tackle roots of distrust.
People aged 35 to 54 were the age cohort most likely to reject a vaccine, the survey found.
Acceptance of vaccines is significantly higher within the Irish population among men, Dubliners, those with a third-level education, and those in higher socioeconomic grades.
The global study, conducted by Worldwide Independent Network of MR (WIN), a global association of independent market research and polling firms, surveyed 33,919 individuals across 38 countries, with RED C conducting the research among a representative survey of 1000 adults in Ireland.
John Rogers, associate director at RED C Research, said the findings are “largely positive” and the high level of immunisation acceptance is “driven perhaps by our highly educated population and being a global leader in pharmaceuticals”.
“As with other countries, a challenge for medical professionals and health boards is to address the concerns many have with approved vaccines, in addition to tried and tested medical innovations,” he said. “Given the high levels of conspiracy theories and misinformation relating to vaccines, particularly involving those that cause negative effects in children, it’s concerning to see the vaccine acceptance and trust of innovative medicines in lower amongst Irish parents.”
Speaking recently in an interview with The Irish Times, interim chief medical officer Mary Horgan said vaccine hesitancy and refusal was “complex”, and there were often various factors resulting in it, including fatigue, misinformation or concerns about side effects.
