DUBLIN: The vast majority of people in Ireland are ready to get vaccinated against COVID-19. A recent survey shows that the majority of people in the country are waiting for the release of a vaccine. The news that many vaccines that have proven to be effective are awaiting approval is very encouraging.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) says 44 candidate vaccines are under clinical evaluation worldwide in the final stages of clinical trials. Of these, 10 are ready to be injected for trial. These will be approved only after testing on millions of people and confirming the results.
A survey conducted by Ipsos MRBI for the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) found that 55% of people were ready to be vaccinated. 33% are unsure, while 12% say that they will not take a vaccine.
About 60% of men and half of women surveyed are willing to be vaccinated. People over the age of 65 are more likely to be vaccinated, followed by people aged between 35 and 44. But young people do not have much interest in the COVID vaccine. 19% of people between the ages of 25 and 34 and 18% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 say they would not take it. The survey interviewed 975 people over the age of 18 by telephone.
Oliver O’Connor, chief executive of IPHA says the world is still a little far from the approved vaccine for COVID-19, but there is hope. It usually takes 10 to 15 years for a vaccine to reach the market. The mumps vaccine, which took about four years in the 1960s, was the fastest one to enter the market.
Dr. Fidelma Fitzpatrick, consultant and senior lecturer in microbiology at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), said: “There has never been a time when the entire world has been so focused on one type of vaccination programme so there will be huge scrutiny of the safety of these vaccines. The whole point of the Phase Three trials is to find any rare side effects that wouldn’t come through in the Phase One and Two trials.”