Half of Canadians think COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe

Amid the initial rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, eight in 10 Canadians would line up for a shot within the next three months if it were offered to them, but nearly half question its safety, highlighting the need to bolster public trust and confidence, finds a new survey of 2,002 Canadians by KPMG in Canada.

“With half of the population in Canada looking for assurances on the safety and rollout of the vaccines, it’s critical that all players in the healthcare sector continue to work together to strengthen the public’s comfort in getting inoculated,” says Jerome Thirion, a partner and KPMG’s national leader of supply chain management. “Conflicting messages makes full transparency essential for a successful roll out of the country’s largest-ever vaccine campaign.”

The top concerns over a COVID-19 vaccine program include:

Vaccines have been rushed to market without knowing if they are safe (63 per cent);

The distribution in Canada will be delayed by inter-jurisdictional red tape (46 per cent);

The same quality / reliability issues with foreign-made vaccines as experienced with foreign-made personal protective equipment (PPE) in phase 1 of the pandemic (45 per cent); and,

Tracking systems will be inadequate between various levels in the healthcare system leading to an over- or under-supply and an inability to know who has been vaccinated (42 per cent).

Key Findings

Eight in 10 Canadians say they would take a COVID-19 vaccine within the next three months if it were offered to them.

Just over half (53 per cent) of Canadians feel that it’s totally safe to get inoculated.

A quarter of Canadians worry that it is not totally safe but are willing to accept the risk and take the shots to get their lives and the economy back on-track.

One in five (22 per cent) say they won’t take it due to concerns about vaccine safety and how the rollout will be managed.