Most adults vaccinated against COVID-19 in all 13 countries surveyed intend to get a booster shot
A new 13-country Ipsos survey conducted in partnership with the World Economic Forum finds large majorities of adults fully vaccinated against COVID-19 saying they would get a booster shot if it were available to them. Booster uptake intent ranges from 62% in Russia to 96% in Brazil. It is higher among those aged 55 and older in many countries.
In all but one of the 13 countries, most citizens surveyed expect vaccine booster shots to be required at least annually to maintain protection against COVID-19. However, majorities of adults in every country agree that the priority for vaccines should be first doses for those who want them before making booster shots available.
The survey was conducted August 26-30, 2021 on Ipsos’ Global Advisor online platform among 9,521 adults under the age of 75, including 5,977 who have already received two doses of a COVID-19.
Read the World Economic Forum's article
Detailed Findings
High levels of booster uptake intent levels among fully vaccinated adults in all 13 countries
In each of the 13 countries surveyed, a large majority of adults who have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine strongly or somewhat agree they would get a booster shot if it were available today:
- 90%+ in Brazil (96%), Mexico (93%), and China (90%);
- 80%+ in Australia (82%), the United Kingdom (82%), and the United States (81%);
- 70%+ in Canada (77%), Spain (73%), Japan (72%), France (70%), and Germany (70%); and
- 60%+ in Italy (66%) and Russia (62%).
While it varies widely across countries, COVID-19 booster uptake intent among the fully vaccinated does not differ significantly within any of the 13 countries along gender lines. However, it is notably higher among those aged 55-74 than it is among younger adults in Canada, France, Germany, and the U.K.
In every country except Russia, fully vaccinated adults are more likely to disagree than to agree with the suggestion that, once the rates of COVID-19 are low and their country has returned to pre-COVID life, there will be no reason to get another vaccine booster shot. Agreement ranges from 16% in Mexico and 17% in Australia to 37% in Italy and 51% in Russia.
In several countries, younger people are significantly more likely than their elders to agree that vaccine booster shots will not be needed when the incidence of COVID-19 has receded, and life has returned to normal. This pattern is very clear in Australia, Germany, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. Also, in Spain and the U.S., men are more likely to share this view than are women.
Widespread expectation that booster shots will be needed at least annually
Majorities of citizens surveyed in 12 of the 13 countries strongly or somewhat agree that vaccine booster shots will be required at least every year to maintain protection against COVID-19. The expectation that booster shots will be needed annually or more often is highest in Mexico (85%), Brazil (83%), and the U.K. (77%), and lowest in Russia (43%).
Agreement that vaccine booster shots will be needed at least every year increases with age. In France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the U.K., it is at least 10 percentage points higher among those aged 55-74 than it is both among those under age 35 and those aged 35-54. While it is significantly more prevalent among females than it is among males in Brazil, Mexico, and the U.K., the opposite is true in Germany.
Getting first doses remains a priority over booster shots
Despite high levels of booster shot uptake intent, majorities of adults in all 13 countries (from 83% in China and Japan to 56% in France) agree that the priority for vaccines should be to give first doses to those who want them before making booster shots available. No more than one-quarter in any of the 13 countries – and as few as only one in ten in some of them – disagree.
While agreement with making first doses of COVID-19 vaccines a priority over making booster shots available varies in intensity from one country to the other, it tends to be very consistent across age groups and gender lines within each country. France and the U.S., where agreement is higher among males than it is among females, are the only exceptions.
