COVID-19 VACCINE HESITANCY in Ireland has dropped 36 percentage points in 10 months, a survey by market research company Ipsos MRBI has found.

The latest survey, carried out between 30 July and 15 August, found that the proportion of people who said they will not get a Covid-19 vaccine has dropped to 5%. A further 4% said they were unsure about the matter.

When the survey was first carried out last October a total of 33% said they were unsure while 12% said they would not get vaccinated against the disease.

The research found that a total of 91% of people either intend to get inoculated against Covid-19 or have already received a jab.

In the 18 to 34-year-old age cohort, 86% of people said they intend to get a Covid shot or have already done so.

Last October, 19% of people in that age group said they would refuse a vaccine. That figure has dropped to just 7% in the latest survey.

A further 32% of 18 to 34-year-olds said they were unsure about Covid vaccination last October compared with 8% this month. 

The research was carried out by Ipsos MRBI for the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA), a representative organisation for the biopharmaceutical industry.

It involved the polling firm conducting 1,002 telephone interviews with adults aged over 18. Ipsos MRBI said the sample was nationally representative for age, gender, geography and social class.

Scientific evidence to date shows that vaccines against Covid-19 are overwhelmingly safe and that they reduce serious illness and rates of hospitalisation due to the virus.

You can read more about data supporting the use of vaccines here.

The latest stats from the HSE show that nearly 6.8 million vaccine doses have been administered in Ireland.

A total of 3.4 million people have received one vaccine and 3.1 million people have received two jabs. Over 232,000 people have received the single-dose Janssen shot.

The majority of people (70.8%) received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The AstraZeneca shot was administered to 17.5% of recipients while 8.3% of people got the Moderna jab and 3.4% received the Janssen vaccine.