Has the influence of anti-vaxxers been hugely overstated? That is one interpretation of the Office for National Statistics’ latest survey on social attitudes towards Covid-19 and the government’s efforts to tackle it.
While fears abound that people might refuse the vaccine, with their minds turned by lies disseminated on social media about Bill Gates wanting to impregnate them with microchips, there is scant sign that the British public is becoming anti-vax. Across all adult age groups, 78 per cent say they are ‘fairly likely’ or ‘very likely’ to take the vaccine if offered it (and it is government policy that all will be offered it in time).
More importantly, perhaps, that rises to 95 per cent among the over-70s, the age group most likely to come to harm from the disease. It drops to 63 per cent among 16- to 29-year-olds, but there is scant sign that the refuseniks have been influenced by conspiracy theories.
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