Older Canadians and university graduates likeliest to get tested for COVID-19 and vaccinated

Released: 2020-08-25

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, various public health strategies related to testing and vaccination have been considered to reduce the spread of the virus and facilitate the reopening of the economy and a return to normal activities. Knowledge of Canadians' attitudes toward COVID-19 testing and vaccination is useful for informing the decisions of policy makers and public health officials about these strategies.

Today, Statistics Canada is releasing two studies that provide information about Canadians' attitudes toward COVID-19 testing and vaccination. These studies are based on web panel data from the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series 3, which is representative of Canadians residing in the 10 provinces.

Several insights emerged from these studies. For example, more than 6 in 10 Canadians (63.5%) reported that they would get tested for COVID-19 if they were experiencing symptoms. Women (66.5%) were more likely than men (60.3%) to indicate that they would get tested if they were symptomatic. Bachelor's degree holders were also more likely than those with lower levels of education to indicate that they would get tested if symptomatic.

The majority of Canadians reported that they are either very likely (57.5%) or somewhat likely (19.0%) to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. Canadians aged 65 and older are more likely to get a vaccine (70.3%) than those aged 25 to 44 (51.6%). Canadians with high levels of education are also more likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine than those with lower levels of education. Among those who indicated that they are unlikely to get vaccinated, the top reason given was a lack of confidence in the safety of a COVID-19 vaccine (54.2%).

Products

The research articles "COVID-19 testing: Do Canadians plan to get tested and why?", "Canadians' support for random COVID-19 testing " and "Canadians' willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine: Group differences and reasons for vaccine hesitancy," released today as part of the series StatCan COVID-19: Data to Insights for a Better Canada (Catalogue number45280001), are now available.

Contact information

For more information contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca).

To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Kristyn Frank at 613-864-0694; (kristyn.frank@canada.ca), or Rubab Arim at 613-797-5316; (rubab.arim@canada.ca), Social Analysis and Modelling Division.