Eight in Ten (82%) Canadians Vaccinated or Awaiting Vaccine; Remaining 18% Need to Be Convinced

Toronto, ON, June 18, 2021 – Prime Minister Trudeau introduced the phrase ‘one-dose summer’ to Canadians’ vocabulary in mid-May, raising hopes of this summer being a return to some kind of normal, but dependent on the state of vaccination across the country. A recent Ipsos poll on behalf of Global News has found while over eight in ten (83%) Canadians adults say they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or are interested in getting vaccinated, there remains a sizeable portion still hesitant to roll up their sleeves. Vaccine hesitancy remains a challenge to the large-scale public health effort underway in hospitals, pharmacies, convention centres, and stadia all over the country.

Five Million Adults May Go Unvaccinated, Especially Women and Younger Canadians

The poll found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of Canadian adults say they have received at least one dose of a vaccine and another 10% say that they would like to be vaccinated. With the most recent data from the Government of Canada indicating that 70% of those aged 12 years and older have received at least one dose,[1] these findings are in line with overall population trends.

However, the remaining two in ten (18%) are vaccine hesitant, meaning that they are either unsure whether they will get the vaccine (9%) or that they are ‘definitely not’ getting the vaccine (9%). This skepticism (or in some cases flat-out refusal) means that as many as five million adult Canadians may not receive the vaccine, posing a major challenge to mass vaccination efforts.

Women are more likely than men to express these vaccine-hesitant attitudes (20% v. 14%) and are also more likely to say that they are ‘definitely not’ getting the vaccine (11% v. 6%). In addition, younger Canadians are also showing signs of being more hesitant towards the COVID-19 vaccine than older age groups. Self-reported vaccination rates in younger age groups trail behind those of older age groups, partially due to the vaccine only being available very recently to these groups. However, even when accounting for these who say they have not yet been vaccinated but want to be, a quarter (25%) of Canadians aged 18-34 express reluctance towards the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to 18% of those aged 35-54 and 11% of those aged 55+ years.

Have you received a vaccination against COVID-19?

Atlantic Canada’s relatively low COVID-19 case count may be a contributing factor to why a quarter (26%) of those living there are unsure as to whether they’ll get the vaccine, though few (5%) in the region say they will outright refuse to be vaccinated. While Alberta has a slightly smaller proportion of adults saying they are either unsure of or refusing to get the vaccine (22%), it has a higher proportion of those saying they will choose to not be vaccinated (10%). Resistance to the vaccine seems to be highest in British Columbia, where 12% of adults say they are ‘definitely not’ getting the vaccine.

How High Can We Go?

As shipments of vaccines continue to arrive, the question remains as to how high of a vaccination rate can Canada achieve. This aversion may be rooted in concerns ranging from personal religious beliefs to skepticism towards a vaccine that was developed and approved so quickly.

When presented with various incentives, such as a chance to win $1 million in a lottery, cash reward valued at $100, and a paid day off from work, roughly half of unvaccinated Canadians could be convinced to change their minds.

Incentives to Motivate Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine

(among those having not yet received a vaccine dose)

If offered a chance at an Alberta-style lottery drawing of $1 million, over one-third (35%) say they would get the vaccine, with another 21% saying that they maybe would get vaccinated. This means that 45% of unvaccinated Canadians would still turn down the chance to become a millionaire if it meant getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Manitoba has opted for a similar approach, but instead offering several prizes of $100,000. If offered this option, three in ten (31%) unvaccinated Canadians would choose to get the vaccine, with another 25% who could be swayed.

Even if unvaccinated Canadians may not be the gambling type, preferring instead a guaranteed payout instead of entering a lottery, only one-third (32%) say a cash or reward valued at $100 would be enough for them to get the vaccine and another 25% say they could be convinced. This leaves 43% of those who have not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine saying they could not even be motivated to do so by a guaranteed payment of $100.

As Canada tries to break records in terms of proportion of the population that is vaccinated, the fact that a significant number of individuals appear to be unmoved by monetary incentives hints at underlying barriers to vaccination for a small minority of Canadians that may not be so easily overcome.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between June 11^th and 14^th, 2021, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1,001 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed online. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker
CEO, Ipsos Global Public Affairs
+1 416 324 2001
[email protected]

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[1] Please see Government of Canada. “COVID-19 vaccination in Canada”, https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccination-coverage/.