More Kiwis are willing to get the Covid vaccine, or have received it already, compared with sentiments March, latest research shows.
The research from the Ministry of Health in April shows 77 per cent of New Zealanders aged 16 years and over say they are likely to get a vaccine or have already received a vaccine, compared to 69 per cent in March.
The research comes as New Zealand reaches the milestone of 500,000 administered doses.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins called the result of the survey “really encouraging”, saying a “real difference” was being made by information campaigns, solid progress in the vaccine rollout and strong role models in each community.
The 77 per cent figure equates to 3,147,200 out of 4,082,500 New Zealanders 16 and over.
The number of people who say they're unlikely to get vaccinated dropped to 12 per cent, compared with 20 per cent in March and 24 per cent in December.
“Of the 12 per cent unlikely, there remains a smaller group of people who are opposed, at 7.8 per cent,” Hipkins said.
“Given the rollout has been underway for three months, it is fantastic to already see a steady decline in those who say they won’t get a vaccine, including in those communities considered high-risk.
Hipkins said understanding why people were not ready to commit to getting jabbed is important.
“This research indicates that 15 per cent are still unsure whether they have to pay for the vaccine, which is why we keep repeating that it’s free.
“Those who identify as disabled are more likely on average to be unsure whether they’ll get vaccinated and there remains a number of people who want to know more about the safety of the vaccine, so we’ve still got work to do.”
“But it’s pleasing that the number of people with concerns about the vaccine approval process has nearly halved to 36 per cent, down from 60 per cent in December.
“New Zealand’s medicine approval regime for Covid-19 vaccines is one of the most rigorous in the world. This improvement shows that while mis- and dis-information campaigns remain a concern for the Government, people are getting access to good and accurate information.”
Hipkins said 505,820 vaccine doses had been administered as of last night, calling the milestone of 500,000 doses “significant”.
“The vaccination programme is further ahead than where it was projected to be at this stage,” he said.
“It took 49 days to reach 100,000 doses, two weeks to reach 200,000, 12 days to get to 300,000, eight days to hit 400,000 and another eight days to reach the half million.
“Given the complexity and sheer scale of the task at hand this is a strong confidence booster in the vaccination programme as we prepare for the bulk of the vaccine to arrive in country from July. We know our supply of vaccines will be constrained to the end of June, but our planning has always been predicated on larger amounts of vaccine arriving from July, enabling us to finish vaccinating Group 3 and then move into the wider population.
“The vast majority of DHBs have already started vaccinating Group 3 or will do so in the next few weeks, and we remain on track to make the vaccine available to everyone in New Zealand by the end of 2021.”
At 12am on Wednesday, 152,933 second doses of the vaccine had been administered. The total doses administered at that time was 474,435.
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