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LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines
is growing, with people's willingness to have the shots
increasing as they are rolled out across the world and concerns
about possible side effects are fading, a 14-country survey
showed on Friday.
Co-led by Imperial College London's Institute of Global
Health Innovation (IGHI) and the polling firm YouGov, the survey
found trust in COVID-19 vaccines had risen in nine out of 14
countries covered, including France, Japan and Singapore which
had previously had low levels of confidence.
The latest update of the survey, which ran from Feb 8. to
Feb. 21, found that people in the UK are the most willing, with
77% saying they would take a vaccine designed to protect against
COVID-19 if one was available that week.
This is up from 55% in November, shortly before the first
COVID-19 vaccine - co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech -
gained regulatory approval for use in Britain.
People in France, Singapore and Japan remained among the
least willing to have a COVID-19 vaccine, at 40%, 48% and 48%,
respectively - but all three have seen confidence rising since
November when only 25%, 36% and 39% of people were positive.
The survey also found that worries over vaccine side effects
have faded in the majority of countries, with fewer than half
(45%) of all respondents currently reporting concern.
Again, people in France, Singapore and Japan are currently
most worried about side effects, with around 6 in 10 feeling
concerned (56%, 59%, 61%), while the UK is the least concerned.
The latest survey involved more than 13,500 people in
Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel,
Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Korea,
Spain and Sweden.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
