Most New Zealanders would likely get a Covid-19 vaccine if one were to become available, the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll found.
Earlier this week, New Zealand entered a legally binding agreement for the option to purchase vaccines for up to 50% of the population.
Those polled were asked how likely they would be to get a vaccination against Covid-19, if one were to become available.
Seventy-six per cent responded that they would either definitely (44%) or probably (32%) get a vaccination to Covid-19.
Twenty-one per cent said they would definitely not get it (10%) or probably not get vaccinated for Covid-19 (11%).
Four per cent did not know or said "it depends".
The groups of people who were more likely than average to say they would or probably would get a vaccine were people with an annual household income between $100,001 and $150,000, Labour supporters, and men aged 55 and over.
Those who were more likely than average to say they would not or probably would not get a Covid-19 vaccine were people with an annual household income of less than $30,000 and people from a single person household.
National's Judith Collins said she would "absolutely" get a Covid-19 vaccine.
The question was also put to MP Maureen Pugh who was standing beside Collins on the West Coast today.
"I hadn't thought about it," she said.
Pugh came under fire in 2016 after saying it was up to parents to make choices about vaccinating their children and told Stuff her children, who are vaccinated, "had "never been on antibiotics".
"They have a really healthy immune system, there's nothing wrong with getting a cold or getting a flu - if you have a healthy immune system you can deal with it," Stuff reported. Pugh then issued a statement encouraging parents to immunise their children.
Collins said she would take it first for Pugh, "so you can see how good it is".
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern said her view was a Covid-19 vaccine "will be critical in the future to keep New Zealanders safe. We will be working hard people have confidence in the vaccine".
"I don’t believe we will have an issue with a large scale anti vaccination campaign or issue, we haven’t had that in the past in New Zealand.
"We have good rates of vaccination in New Zealand and I think that’s because people understand what it’s for."
NZ First leader Winston Peters said he would get a Covid-19 vaccine - "as long as I don't get first in the queue".
"It's just alarming the misinformation out there, it's really quite tragic, people will die in other circumstances because of that behaviour."
In August, the Government announced it was putting hundreds of millions of dollars towards accessing a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it becomes available - but political leaders would not disclose the amount.
It comes on top of the $37 million allocated in May for local development and research of a vaccine.
*Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.
1 NEWS Colmar Brunton Poll: Between September 17 and 21, 2020, 1008 eligible voters were polled by landline (405) and mobile phone (603). The maximum sampling error is approximately ±3.1%-points at the 95% confidence level. Results higher and lower than 50% have a smaller sampling error. The data has been weighted to align with Stats NZ population counts for age, gender, region, ethnic identification and mobile or landline access.
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