Britons are most willing to have vaccine but many nations remain hesitant, major international study finds

People in the UK are more likely to be willing to be vaccinated than the likes of Australia, France and Japan, a new survey has found as the number of people to receive a jab in the country exceed 10 million.

Among the first nations in the world to have approved a jab to tackle the virus, the UK’s efforts to vaccinate the population have seen at least one dose administered to more than 10,021,000 people so far.

Now a survey has revealed that level of uptake has coincided with far flung support for immunisations compared to other countries - according to data compiled bu Imperial College London’s institute of Global Health Innovation and YouGov.

More than half of those surveyed globally would take a vaccine if it was offered to them next week, the survey found - an increase on November when just four in ten respondents said the same.

However the study of 13,500 people from 15 countries found large differences on a national level, with people in the UK most willing to have a vaccine overall.

Some 78 per cent of UK respondents said they would receive the jab, with the next highest levels of support seen in Denmark at 67 per cent.

Researchers also found signs of growth even in sceptical nations. While 44 per cent of French respondents said they would not take a vaccine, the number who strongly agreed they would had doubled to 30 per cent compared to findings in November.

However the positive trend was not a universal one. In four nations - Australia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore - support for taking a vaccine diminished since November.

In Japan, which has seen lengthy delays to the rollout of its vaccine programme compared to European counterparts, only 33 per cent of respondents expressed willingness to get vaccinated. In Singapore the figure stood at 35 per cent.

The UK meanwhile also had the highest number of people who said they strongly agreed they would take a vaccine, up from 41 per cent in November to 70 per cent in January.

Dr David Nabarro, co-director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and WHO Special Envoy on COVID-19, said: “It is very encouraging to see that as a number of safe and effective coronavirus vaccines are being rolled out across the world, there has been an apparent positive shift in people’s perceptions of these products.

“As vaccines will play a vital role in controlling the pandemic, leaders must act now to help more people understand the benefits of being vaccinated against COVID-19 and make sure that no one is left behind.”