Majorities in Britain, Italy and Netherlands want the COVID-19 vaccine, but France and US have large minorities of vaccine hesitant citizens

Research raises questions about continued challenge for governments to promote vaccine take up, especially in France, and the US

Multi-country study of public attitudes towards Covid-19 vaccine rollout reveals French and American citizens have highest levels of vaccine hesitancy, with 4 in 10 in France saying they wouldn’t have it and 1 in 4 in USA.

Majorities in Netherlands and Britain likely to get vaccine, echoed by majority satisfaction with their government’s vaccination roll out

0700 GMT, 4 February 2021, London – Kantar Public has published a multi-country study of attitudes towards the current rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, US and India.

Commenting on the research, Emmanuel Rivière, Director of International Polling and Political Advisory for Kantar Public, said:

“The scale of the communications challenge facing governments hoping to improve vaccine acceptance is revealed in this study. Vaccine hesitancy remains for large minorities in France, Germany and the US, where citizens can be twice or three times as likely to trust their family doctor as they are their government.

“As policymakers consider how best to improve vaccine take-up in the coming months, it will be important to note that health authorities are still considered the most authoritative sources of reliable information on Covid vaccines, some four times higher than social media.”

The study also found that:

A total of 7.133 interviews were conducted online among adults living in India, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain and the United States of America between 13 – 26 January 2021. Using Kantar’s LifePoints research panel, only accessible through the Kantar Profiles Network, all interviews were conducted as online self-completion and collected based on local census distributions.

About Kantar: Kantar is the world’s leading evidence-based insights and consulting company. We have a complete, unique and rounded understanding of how people think, feel and act; globally and locally in over 90 markets. By combining the deep expertise of our people, our data resources and benchmarks, our innovative analytics and technology, we help our clients understand people and inspire growth.

For more information please visit www.kantar.com/public

[1] Kantar study of 7,133 people across 7 countries: India (1000), Italy (1001), Great Britain (1034), Netherlands (1000), Germany (1000), US (1098) and France (1000) between 13 - 26 January 2021