7 out of 10 Citizens 'Will Get Vaccinated'... Authorities Say "Incentives and Other Measures Effective"

'Willing to Vaccinate' 68% in March → 61.5% in April → 69.2% in May
'Infection Concerns' and 'Feeling Safe in Daily Life' Cited as Reasons for Vaccination

Authorities Encourage Vaccination Through Incentives and Vaccination Among Acquaintances

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] About 7 out of 10 Koreans are willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, according to a recent survey.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 31st that in a recent COVID-19 perception survey conducted jointly with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 69.2% of unvaccinated respondents expressed their intention to get vaccinated. This marks a 7.8 percentage point increase compared to 61.4% in April. The survey, conducted by Korea Research, was carried out over three days from the 25th to the 27th, targeting 1,000 adults aged 18 and older nationwide.

According to the survey, among the 912 respondents who identified as unvaccinated, 69.2% said they intended to receive the vaccination. Those who said they did not intend to get vaccinated accounted for 16.1%, while 14.7% were unsure.

In the first survey conducted in March, 68.0% expressed willingness to get vaccinated, but this dropped by 6.6 percentage points to 61.5% in last month's survey, before rising again by 7.8 percentage points this time. The health authorities analyzed that the increase in vaccination willingness is likely due to the acceleration of vaccination efforts and the announcement of vaccine incentives.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, explained during the COVID-19 briefing that "the announcement of vaccine incentives definitely had an impact," adding, "People are encouraged to get vaccinated as they see acquaintances getting vaccinated without major issues."

The main reason for hesitation to get vaccinated was still concerns about adverse reactions to the vaccine (85.1%). However, the percentage of respondents who said they did not trust the vaccine's effectiveness dropped by 6.7 percentage points to 60.1% compared to last month. The primary reasons for wanting to get vaccinated were concerns about COVID-19 infection (54.8%) and feeling safer in daily life (52.3%).

Meanwhile, 71.9% of respondents agreed with the introduction of the social distancing reform plan after July. Among the 24.3% who disagreed, 64.6% said the reform should be implemented after November, when 70% of the population is expected to have completed vaccination.

Overall, evaluations of quarantine policies were positive. In particular, measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (58.8%) and the preparation of the healthcare system for a resurgence (55.9%) received favorable assessments.

More than half of respondents positively evaluated the sufficiency of information regarding changes in social distancing levels and specific public guidelines. However, over half felt that information on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines (53%), the progress and issues related to vaccination (56.6%), and vaccine procurement and introduction status (58.8%) was insufficient.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.