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Poll identifies personal freedoms and health concerns as main reasons for refusing COVID-19 vaccine

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The fourth wave of COVID-19 has been called “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” In B.C., that means the less than 20 per cent of the province’s total population – including children too young to be eligible – who haven’t yet received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

A new poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute provides some insight into who Canada's unvaccinated adults are and why they’re still resisting immunization. 

“The people we talked to for this study are those who are like, ‘No way, no how, not going to do it and I refuse to get a vaccine,’” said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.

The poll finds those people cite health concerns and personal freedoms as their reasons.

“A good chunk of them actually believe that COVID-19 is a conspiracy theory,” said Kurl.

The poll also found that men aged 18 to 34 are more likely to refuse being vaccinated.

The highest percentage of people polled who say they will not get the shot are in the most well-off households.

Kurl attributes that finding to the possibility that those who are comfortable financially may have a false sense of security.

“If you live in Canada where you’re largely insulated from a lot of the terrible diseases that are out there in the world, you may feel like a vaccine is not required because you’ve been pretty healthy all of your life,” said Kurl.

The poll also found that 90 per cent of the unvaccinated believe the health risks of COVID-19 are overstated. Eighty-four per cent believe their immune system is strong enough to fight the virus on its own.

Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, says the COVID-19 vaccine has been too politicized. He says many that are still holding out have lost the whole point of why vaccines are important in a community.

“It should be a discussion of human health, not human rights,” said Conway. “If we get away from this discussion and reframe it, I’m cautiously optimistic that we will make some headway among the unvaccinated.” 

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