Czech interest in COVID-19 vaccination is on the rise

About 58 percent of Czechs are now ready to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a poll conducted by the STEM/MARK polling agency for Czech Television and released this weekend. Most said they would get vaccinated to preserve the health of the people closest to them. 

Roughly one-quarter of the respondents are not ready to be vaccinated, primarily because they mistrust the vaccine. One percent of the respondents had already been vaccinated.

The change is significant over a similar poll conducted last month, when around 40 percent of Czechs expressed willingness to be vaccinated.

Health Minister Jan Blatný said the higher interest was a good change.

"It is a change for the better," Blatný told Czech Television.

"We are approaching the minimum of 60 percent. I would like us to reach the figure of around 70 percent."

Two-thirds of those polled consider the vaccine the correct solution to COVID-19, while an opposing view was held by 22 percent of respondents. Around 17 percent of those polled want the vaccination to be mandatory.

Three out of five respondents are willing to at least partly pay for the vaccination. About 18 percent are willing to pay in full for the vaccine. Two-fifths of the respondents demand that the vaccine be free.

The government's approach to vaccination is approved of by one-quarter and disapproved by almost one-half of those surveyed.

Two-thirds said they had come across disinformation on vaccination. Most believe that the state is unable to refute it.

The poll was conducted on 1,011 respondents between January 16 and 19.