Being an Anti Vaxxer is something people indulge in when they’re middle-aged
As you get older with your life more at stake you take a different view
One of the big concerns as we get closer to getting an effective Covid19 vaccine is that there will be a significant proportion of the population who refuse to take part. The influence of disgraced ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield still runs very deep and we’ve seen how significant public health campaigns like participation in the MMR vaccine by childrens have been seriously undermined.
Getting participation rates as close as possible to 100% of the target groups is a key objective of vaccine campaigns.
Well this YouGov polling suggests that the current COVID threat is so serious for the old that a large proportion is ready to to take it. That YouGov found only 4% of refuseniks in the 65+ group is reassuring and possibly a surprise.
Given that the older age groups are so much more vulnerable to the disease then that is probably not unexpected but I had thought that the Anti Vaxxers would have had more impact up the age range. The elderly have had free anti flu vaccines for years and this has had a huge impact on their health and demands on the NHS.
The roll out of the vaccine is likely to prioritise care workers and the elderly so it might be that the early phases see less Anti Vaxxer opposition than might have been expected.
The big thing that could impede the vaccine programme is that side-effects emerge which have not come up in the trials.