Nearly 7 out of 10 Koreans willing to take vaccine: poll
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Nearly seven out of 10 South Koreans are willing to take vaccine shots to combat the coronavirus, a poll showed Monday.
According to the survey conducted from April 25-27 jointly by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 69.2 percent of 912 unvaccinated respondents said they would like to get vaccinated, up by 7.8 percentage points from a month ago.
About 16 percent answered they would not take vaccine shots, while 14.71 percent said they were not sure whether to take them or not.
The health authorities attributed the rise in positive answers to vaccine eligibility expansion and various incentive programs.
Of those who said they would get inoculated, 76.4 percent said they would do so to protect their family from getting infected, and 63.9 percent said they would like to contribute to the country reaching herd immunity as soon as possible. Around 55 percent said they were concerned about getting infected themselves, and 52.3 percent said they wanted to feel safe by doing so.
The respondents were allowed to choose multiple answers.
Among those who remained wary about vaccination, 85.1 percent said they were worried about possible side effects and 60.1 percent said they did not trust vaccine efficacy. Around 44 percent said they would not take vaccine shots because they could not get the type of vaccine they wanted.
Among the 88 people who were fully vaccinated, 85.2 percent said they recommended vaccination to others and 95.5 percent said they were still complying with health protocols and social distancing measures.
Overall, the respondents positively responded to the government's vaccine programs and other measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. But they said there was room for improvement in stopping virus variants from entering and spreading in the country.
Also, the respondents said the government should put priority on getting more people to get vaccinated (48.2 percent), followed by securing as many vaccine doses as possible (42 percent).
More than half of the respondents said they were getting sufficient information on social distancing guidelines while not receiving enough information on vaccine safety and efficacy. (Yonhap)