Poll: More than half of Czechs support blanket COVID-19 vaccination

More than half of Czechs (52%) polled showed support for blanket vaccination against COVID-19 according to the results of a recent STEM poll presented by the Health Ministry on Friday.

About three fifths showed support for blanket coronavirus testing, according to the poll, while 70% were afraid of getting infected.

About one fifth of those who do not want to get vaccinated themselves showed support for blanket vaccination.

"Even those who are against [their own] vaccination in fact realize that vaccination is important," Health Minister Jan Blatný said.

According to the poll, about 40% of Czechs want to get vaccinated themselves, 45% do not want to get vaccinated, and 16% are unsure.

About half of those who do not want to get vaccinated themselves were also against blanket vaccination.

People aged over 60 and people living in big towns tended to support vaccination more than others, and men are more open to it than women.

Those who support blanket testing also include people who do not want to get tested themselves. Blanket testing is most supported by people aged over 60 and men supported it more often than women. About 45% said other members of their family would probably undergo the test, too.

The poll showed that 42% of people had interest in the antigen testing which will be be offered for free to the Czech public from December 18. About half of the people surveyed do not plan to undergo antigen testing. People aged over 60, who are more threatened by COVID-19, showed more interest than younger people.

The STEM polling institute carried out the poll on 1,004 adult respondents from November 30 to December 3.