With coronavirus vaccination programmes continuing apace across the world, data from YouGov’s COVID-19 trackers shows that Europeans are increasingly willing to take the vaccine.
The biggest increase has been in Sweden. In our first survey there in mid-November only 45% of Swedes said they would be willing to take the vaccine. That figure has since increased to 66% who would take the vaccine (or have already done so).
Britain has seen a similarly large increase, going from 61% to 81%.
Perhaps the most important shift has taken place in France. At the time of our first survey conducted there in mid-November only 32% of French people said they would take the jab. This figure actually fell to 24% by mid-December – the lowest level of any country surveyed. Since then, however, willingness levels have risen to 46%.
Outside of Europe, the trend is less consistent. In the US, where YouGov has been tracking attitudes since July, currently 51% of Americans have either received their vaccine or are happy to do so – the highest level so far. Prior to this, figures had been between 36% and 50%.
In Asia attitudes are about where they were when YouGov first asked in mid/late December. The most notable shift has taken place in Hong Kong, where willingness to take the vaccine is 15 points down on the original level, at 36%.
In the Middle East, attitudes in Saudi Arabia have improved, up from 42% to 51%, while in the UAE attitudes are largely the same (63% vs 61%).
See all of YouGov's COVID-19 international tracker data here