Is It Too Soon For A COVID-19 Vaccine?
This week we saw the announcement by Pfizer and BioNTech about a potentially successful vaccine against COVID-19. This generated a lot of excitement with shares in travel companies surging as a result and Governments hopeful of starting vaccinations in the next month at the earliest. Many believe that rollout of a successful vaccine will be the key driver towards a return to ‘normality’, which no doubt everyone is hoping for and looking forward towards in the near future. However having been repeatedly told in recent months that a proven vaccine is several months away and may not be with us till some point next year even, how has this announcement been taken amongst the general public?
We decided to conduct a snap poll across our social media to gauge peoples thoughts, views and feelings of both this announcement in particular and generally about the importance of a possible vaccine against this coronavirus. Being in our second week of lockdown here in the UK, covid is still very much on peoples minds and being stuck at home for a prolonged period of time, eagerly thinking about when and how society will achieve success in overcoming the virus.
Despite the same day announcements and eagerness of Governments to advise a potential start of administering vaccines to some groups as early as next month, our poll indicates many are still sceptical about the vaccine and wouldn’t consent to one if offered. Almost 80% remain unconvinced about the Pfizer announcement this week whilst only a quarter said they would take the vaccine if they had the option to do so.
It does appear however that there is a split when it comes to the importance of a vaccine in order to move forward and overcome the virus. 45% of respondents believe that a vaccine is needed whereas 55% felt that a return to ‘normality’ is achievable without one. This does lend to the notion that yes whilst many are wary about possible vaccines at this point in time, if given more data and information about it more would be open to taking it once they’re able to make an educated judgment on its effectiveness.
On the subject of how vaccines relate to their propensity to travel looking ahead, again around 75% stated that they would be more likely to travel abroad if a suitable vaccine was available. However when subsequently asked to what extent does vaccine availability affect their likelihood to travel again, we did see a split with 46% indicating that it was quite important and their decision would depend on it. Just over half (54%) of our respondents do not regard vaccine availability as a key driver in their decision with it having little to no impact at all.
“Important to be cautious, but great to know a vaccine is possible at all!”
In the context of travel in particular, it does show that other measures alongside vaccine availability are integral in allowing people to travel again. Namely polices regarding quarantines and testing in particular of course but also more broadly the handling of travel corridors with other countries and destinations. As time progresses we do see an increasing number of countries that have a good record in reducing COVID cases not being granted corridors and that is to the detriment of the outbound travel industry in the UK. Despite the increased rules and regulations that one has to follow when holidaying abroad, travellers do still wish to get away but do not want to be in limbo with sudden announcements or little notice given when changes are announced. Nor do they wish to self quarantine upon return if they can obtain a test after arrival which if it returns as negative allows them to resume daily life much quicker as well. Changes to return procedures from such countries which currently require 14 days quarantine do look to be coming so we hope that these are implemented swiftly and give more confidence to those looking to travel abroad.