The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

Reason those who would get vaccinated against Covid-19 have not been vaccinated yet

20 Jul 2021

Q. Thinking about why you haven’t been vaccinated against Covid-19 yet, which of the following applies to you? Select all that apply.

[ASKED ONLY TO THOSE WHO SAY THEY WOULD GET VACCINATED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE / WOULD GET VACCINATED BUT NOT STRAIGHT AWAY]

  Total Gender Age Group
  Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+
I’m waiting for the Pfizer vaccine to be available to me 41% 39% 42% 47% 41% 30%
I’m waiting to see how others react to the vaccine first 29% 28% 29% 33% 31% 17%
I haven’t tried to book an appointment because I assume it will be too hard to get one 13% 14% 13% 20% 12% 4%
I can’t take time off work if I need to after getting vaccinated (e.g. if I feel unwell) 6% 8% 5% 10% 6% 1%
I can’t take time off work for the vaccine appointment 4% 5% 4% 6% 5% 1%
Other (please specify) 13% 10% 15% 7% 14% 19%
None of these 15% 16% 14% 4% 14% 34%
Base (n) 600 272 328 243 223 134
  • Once a vaccine becomes available to them, of those who say they would get vaccinated as soon as possible, or they would get vaccinated but not straight away, the most common reason out of those listed for not being vaccinated yet is ‘I’m waiting for the Pfizer vaccine to be available to me’ (41%).
  • Despite the AstraZeneca vaccine now being technically available to all adults, 47% of those aged 18-34 state waiting for Pfizer to be available to them as their top reason for not getting vaccinated yet, followed by 41% of those aged 35-54 and 30% of those over 55.
  • The second most common reason out of those listed is ‘I’m waiting to see how others react to the vaccine first’ (29%). Those aged 18-34 and 35-54 are more likely to state this than those over 55 (33% and 31% to 17% respectively).
  • 13% say the reason they haven’t been vaccinated yet is because they ‘haven’t tried to book an appointment because they assume it will be too hard to get one’. Those aged 18-34 are more likely to state this as their reason compared to older cohorts (20% to 12% of those aged 35-54 and 4% of those over 55).
Error: