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Coronavirus pandemic

More than one third of Russians plan on getting vaccinated — survey

Most respondents who want to get vaccinated are over 60 years old

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. More than one third of Russians (38%) plan to take the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a survey carried out by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center.

"As many as 38% of respondents are going to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, with the most of them over 60 years old, the most vulnerable group for the virus (49%), as well as Russians aged from 45 to 59 (44%). A total of 52% do not want get the jab, this share is higher among young Russians aged from 25 to 34 (70%)," according to the survey.

The most frequent reasons for coronavirus vaccine hesitancy are poor study of the vaccine (23%), distrust and fear of vaccination (16%), and health condition (13%). Furthermore, 9% of residents do not believe in the vaccine’s effectiveness.

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The vast majority of respondents (84%) who plan to get the shot, prefer the domestic vaccine, whereas another 7% want to get vaccinated with a foreign one. A total of 29% are going to take the vaccine this year, 13% - in January 2021, 12% - in February, 9% - in March.

In general, 97% are aware of mass vaccination against the coronavirus with a Russian vaccine to varying degrees. Some 58% of respondents know a lot about the vaccination, while 39% are informed but without going into details. A total of 3% heard about the COVID-19 vaccination campaign for the first time.

"The long-awaited vaccination campaign against the coronavirus in Russia has started! Not everyone knows about it yet, but a significant part of Russia’s population is going to participate. Those who have not yet made such a decision are refraining due to uncertainty about the vaccine’s effectiveness and the willingness to see how it works in practice. There are those who do not believe in vaccinations at all. Furthermore, there is an obvious need for an advertising and information campaign, which will encourage our compatriots not to wait for others, but to get engaged in the vaccination process faster," Head of the Russian Public Opinion Research Center Valery Fedorov said.

The nationwide survey was conducted on December 11-19 via telephone interviews with 1,600 respondents above 18. The margin of error does not exceed 2.5% at the 95% confidence level.

Vaccination campaign

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously set a goal to launch vaccination across the country. As Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said, vaccination should be completely voluntary and free of charge. Teachers, doctors and social workers should get the vaccine first, while the regions can expand this list. According to Mishustin, the country’s regions will receive 480,000 doses of the vaccine in December. The Health Ministry has already formed its distribution schedule across the country.

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