PUBLIC OPINION ON VACCINATIONS

[Anchor Lead]

Seven out of ten Koreans say they are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to prevent spreading the infection to their loved ones. Those who have no plans to get inoculated say their biggest concern is side effects.

[Pkg]

A poll has been conducted to find out if members of the public are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 when it's their turn.

[Soundbite] Lee Jin-yeop(Wonju resident) : "I believe getting vaccinated is the only way to prevent the spread of the virus."

[Soundbite] Kim Ju-eun(Uijeongbu resident) : "I don't feel like getting a shot. It's not completely safe."

About 68 percent of those who have yet to get vaccinated said they were willing to get a shot. Nearly 13 percent said they don't have plans to get vaccinated.
Those who are willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine said inoculation is necessary to prevent the spread among family members, to achieve herd immunity, and also simply because they were worried about getting infected. Opponents said their primary concern was side effects. Others cited their doubt over vaccine efficacy. Some respondents said they wanted to wait until the vaccine of their choice was available. As for the gathering ban on five or more people more than 80 percent of the respondents said they were following it strictly. However, they think only 10 percent of the public is complying. Most of the public has been found to be severely stressed out because of the pandemic. About 33 percent said their stress levels were very high. More than 53 percent said they were feeling slightly stressed. The survey shows that the coronavirus pandemic is a source of stress for nine out of ten people in Korea. The number one reason was "not knowing when the pandemic will be over." It was followed by "continuous controversy" and "seeing others not following safety precautions." More than eight out of ten respondents said they were in favor of strengthening safety rules to get the virus under control. The poll was conducted by Hankook Research at the request of the ministries of health and culture between March 17-18 on one thousand adults nationwide. The poll's confidence level is 95 percent, and the sampling error at ±3.1 percentage points.