BC Booster Shots: Fewer than Half (44%) of British Columbians with Two Doses of a COVID-19 Vaccine Plan to Get Their Booster Shot as Soon as Available

Vancouver BC, February 10, 2022 — A new online poll conducted on behalf of the BC Pharmacy Association shows that fewer than half of those with two COVID-19 doses (and no booster) are planning to get their booster shot as soon as it is available to them. The poll also shows a high level of trust in community pharmacies for COVID-19 vaccinations.

 

Vaccination Status

Half (50%) of survey respondents say they have received two COVID-19 vaccine shots and a booster. Another four-in-ten (39%) say they have had two shots, but no booster. The remaining respondents have either had one shot (2%), no shots (7%) or declined to answer (2%).

Older respondents are much more likely to say they had a booster (78% among 55+ years vs. 27% among 18 to 34 years and 40% among 35 to 54 years).

 

Booster Intention

Fewer than half (44%) of those with two shots (but no booster) say they plan to get the booster as soon as it is available. One-quarter (25%) say they will get the booster but not right away, while 18% say they will not get the booster and 13% are undecided.

Men (35%) are much less likely than women (54%) to say they will get their booster as soon as it is available.

Among those not getting the booster as soon as it is available, the top reasons include feeling that two shots is enough (41%), concerns about potential long-term effects (33%) and just wanting to get on with normal life (27%). Other reasons include not believing the vaccine will be effective against Omicron and other future variants (23%), not believing the vaccine has been adequately tested (20%) and a feeling that they have been okay so far so the booster is not needed (18%).

 

Changing Trust in Vaccines

Two-in-ten (22%) say their trust in the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines has decreased in the last few months. Slightly fewer (15%) say their trust has increased, while a majority (57%) say their level of trust has not changed.

Residents of the Interior/North (30%) and 35-to 54-year-old residents (30%) are more likely to say their trust has decreased.

Among those with decreased trust, the top reason is knowing that vaccinated people are still getting COVID (38%), followed by feeling there is too much misinformation and conflicting information (17%), that not enough positive change has happened with high vaccination rates (12%) and worry that vaccines won’t protect against variants (10%).

 

Trust in Community Pharmacies

The vast majority (85%) of British Columbians say they would trust their community pharmacy with giving themselves or a family member a COVID-19 vaccine shot. Only 15% would not trust their community pharmacy.

 

About the Study

These are the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Resource Works. The poll of 801 adult (18+) British Columbians was conducted online via the Ipsos I-Say Panel from January 28 to February 3, 2022. These data were statistically weighted by region, age, gender and education to ensure the sample composition reflects that of the actual British Columbia population according to Census data. The precision of Ipsos polls containing online data is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the overall poll (n=801) is accurate to within +/- 4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all British Columbia adults 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:

Kyle Braid
SVP, Ipsos Public Affairs
Office: (778) 373-5130
Cell: (604) 788-2417

[email protected]

 

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