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In a new survey, up to 4 out of 10 Norwegians say they don’t want to get vaccinated now. Current skepticism contrasts with the traditionally strong belief of the population in vaccines.
The survey was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Dagbladet and 926 people participated. The results show that 49 percent respond that they are willing to receive a Covid-19 vaccine if it is available next week. 39% answer that they are not willing to do it, while 12% are not sure.
Norway aims to vaccinate two-thirds of the adult population. A vaccine is the government’s only real option to stop the epidemic. Therefore, Norway is completely dependent on strong support for a covid-19 vaccine.
– A low participation in vaccination can contribute to the virus being transmitted much more and for a longer period of time, making it more difficult to return to a life without restrictions. It can also lead to more deaths, health director Bjørn Guldvog tells Dagbladet, continuing:
– Fortunately, we do not need a 100 percent participation to achieve a good population effect. We will probably achieve a lot with 75 percent support.
Not surprised
It’s only a few months away for a vaccine against covid-19. The most optimistic estimates show that a vaccine can be approved in 2020 and that Norway can start vaccination in early 2021.
Neither Guldvog nor Geir Bukholm, director of infection control at FHI, are surprised by the survey results.
– This is not a surprising result because we do not currently have an approved covid-19 vaccine, because we do not know the effect of a vaccine, and because we do not know the side effects of the vaccine, Bukholm tells Dagbladet.
When asked if he would have taken a COVID-19 vaccine if it were available next week, Guldvog responds that the question is a bit hypothetical, as we do not yet have a vaccine that has been approved for use in the population by the European and Norwegian health authorities.
– But I will accept vaccine offers when the vaccine is available and approved, and when it is my turn according to the priorities established by the health authorities, says Guldvog.
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Grounded
The skepticism of the Norwegian population about a COVID-19 vaccine is supported by another recent survey prepared by Ipsos, where 28 percent of the population responded that it is unlikely, or not likely, that they will get vaccinated against COVID-19 if it is available. . 61 percent of the population responded that it is very or quite probable.
The current survey also shows that 64 percent of those who responded that they were unlikely or unlikely to take the covid-19 vaccine are concerned about side effects. The other two most important reasons were that you don’t think you are in the risk group or that you don’t think the vaccine will be effective.
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Willing men
Mads Motrøen in Ipsos tells Dagbladet that we can say that men are more willing than women to get vaccinated.
– It is difficult to compare surveys with different formulations of questions. In the first survey, we asked about the degree of probability, which is significantly lower than the second question formulation. The latter forces to a much greater extent those who are quite clear that they want to be vaccinated, while some of those who are sitting on the fence lean to answer “no”, says Motrøen and continues:
– The similarity between the survey is that there is a great gender difference. Among those who responded that they are highly likely to get vaccinated, 41 percent of men and 30 percent of women. We also see this trend in the latest survey, where 56 percent of men answered “yes” to 41 percent of women. Therefore, we can say with certainty that men are much more willing to be vaccinated than women.
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Priority
Guldvog says that the most important tool for health authorities to increase public confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine will be to communicate information about the effect of the vaccine against the disease and the virus when it arrives.
The director of infection control, Bukholm, agrees with Guldvog. It also states that it may take a while before Norway receives a sufficient number of vaccine doses.
– We will probably not obtain a sufficient number of doses to offer vaccines to the entire population in the first phase. Therefore, vaccines should be prioritized for certain groups in the population, says Bukholm, continuing:
– Priority can be given to people who are at high risk for a severe course of covid disease. But here, extensive work must be done to come up with an order of priority.
