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Unvaccinated British Columbians ‘universally opposed’ to proof of vaccination: survey

Unvaccinated people strongly oppose proof of vaccination for any activity or circumstance
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Health care workers watch as roughly 1,000 people gathered and protested COVID-19 health measures outside of the hospital on Sept. 1. (Aaron Hemens/Capital News)

Days after protests against the B.C. vaccine card were held across the province, a new survey suggests the vaccine card won’t convince unvaccinated people to get the jab.

RELATED: ‘Go the hell home’: B.C. leaders condemn anti-vaccine passport protests

According to the survey conducted by Insights West, 99 per cent of unvaccinated people polled don’t plan on getting vaccinated to comply with the vaccine card program.

Ninety-nine per cent of respondents said they won’t get vaccinated because of their right to choose what to put in their bodies, 96 per cent are concerned about long-term side effects from vaccines, 96 per cent said they didn’t want the government controlling them and 91 per cent said the vaccine card program is illegal or unconstitutional.

“[Unvaccinated people] are universally opposed to every circumstance in which proof of vaccinations will be required and believe in many types of misinformation about the vaccine,” Insights West said in a news release.

RELATED: Vaccine card ‘sends a message,’ will push complacent to get COVID jab

Opposition to the vaccine card is not limited to any single activity, unvaccinated people strongly oppose proof of vaccination for any activity. And unvaccinated British Columbians are not monolithic — the survey said the group includes all age groups, all regions of the province and is evenly split between men and women.

When asked what their main reason for opposition to the vaccine card program was, 35 per cent of respondents said vaccine cards are unconstitutional, 29 per cent said they have the right to choose what goes into their bodies and eight per cent said they don’t want the government controlling them.

Insights West released a survey in mid-August that showed 79 per cent of British Columbians support some kind of proof of vaccination program. As of Friday (Sep. 3), 84.8 per cent of British Columbians have received at least one dose of vaccine.

RELATED: Vast majority of B.C. residents support vaccine passports, survey finds

Results are based on an online study conducted August 25-September 1, 2021 among an opportunity sample of 543 residents across BC who are both unvaccinated and who are strongly opposed to BC’s vaccine card system.


@SchislerCole
cole.schisler@bpdigital.ca

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