Change in vaccine willingness in Australia: August 2020 to January 2021

Executive summary

• The paper provides data on the vaccine willingness in Australia as of January 2021 and how this changed since August 2020 both at the national level and for particular individuals.

• There has been a substantial increase in vaccine resistance and hesitancy and a large decline in vaccine likeliness between August 2020 and January 2021

  • Combined, 21.7 per cent of Australians said they probably or definitely would not get a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021, a significant and substantial increase from the 12.7 per cent of Australians who gave the same responses in August 2020.

• At the individual level, 31.9 per cent of Australians became less willing to get the vaccine between August 2020 and January 2021 in that they moved from a more to a less willing category.

  • There were still some Australians who became more willing over the period to get vaccinated (9.9 per cent).

• The largest single flow across willingness categories was the 18.7 per cent of Australians who went from being definitely willing to get a COVID-19 vaccination to only probably willing to get one . There was a large decline in vaccine certainty, alongside increases in vaccine resistance.

• We found three attitudinal factors that were particularly important in explaining the decline in willingness. Those Australians who think too much is being made of COVID-19, those who have low confidence in hospitals and the health care system, and those who are not optimistic about the next 12 months had all decreased in terms of their willingness to get vaccinated once a vaccine is available.

  • In addition to campaigns targeting vaccination directly, those programs that improve confidence, remind people of the dangers of COVID-19, but importantly highlight the potential for a much better 2022 all have the potential to improve vaccination rates .

• Females, Indigenous Australians, those who speak a language other than English at home and those who have not completed Year 12 have all became less willing to get a vaccine since August 2020 compared to the rest of the Australian population.

  • These population groups are arguably the most urgent focus of any public health campaigns to improve willingness, both because they have low willingness to start with, but also because there is the potential opportunity to bring their willingness back to what it was in August 2020 when there was a smaller gap with the rest of the Australian population.

  • There is a real need to consider a significantly enhanced public health campaign in languages other than English

  • There is a need to convey information to the general public in a way that is informative, reassuring and salient for those without a degree