Essential Report
Reason those who would get vaccinated against Covid-19 have not been vaccinated yet
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).

COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
Sign up for updates
Receive the Essential Report in your inbox.Essential Tags
2PP
Abbott
ALP
Anthony Albanese
Approval of opposition leader
Approval of Tony Abbott
asylum seekers
Australian economy
Bill Shorten
Carbon Tax
climate change
coronavirus
covid-19
economy
Education
Election
EMC
environment
ER
Essential Media
Essential Report
Federal Budget
Federal Government
federal politics
Gillard
Greens
Julia Gillard
kevin rudd
Labor
Labor Party
Liberal
Liberal Party
Liberals
mining
Nationals
Opposition leader
peter lewis
Polling
polls
Prime Minister
Scott Morrison
tony abbott
two party preferred
voting
Voting intention
Recent Comments
