KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 7): Almost half of Malaysians, or 48%, trust that a vaccine will be available to them before the end of the year, ahead of the global average.

In a recent Ipsos survey for the World Economic Forum released recently, China emerged as the most optimistic with a total of 87% while Japan appears to be the most pessimistic with only 22% of its people agreeing to the possibility of a vaccine available to them.

In a statement, Ipsos managing partner Arun Menon said as countries and companies push against time to release a Covid-19 vaccine, public opinion and acceptability play the most important role in its success.

Menon said a universal and affordable public health care system supports Malaysian confidence in the availability of vaccines for the masses.

As a result of respective governments and health authorities’ rapid push for the production of a vaccine for Covid-19, there are increasing and valid doubts over its side effects and effectiveness.

In determining more specificities of the aforementioned, the Ipsos survey also conducted a search on possible reasons Malaysians would not take the vaccine for Covid-19.

The results of the survey show that the top reason is indeed the public’s worry about the vaccine’s potential side effects.

However, the next reason in line, with 36% of the population on board, is the opinion that they are not at risk from Covid-19.

It is notable that Malaysians are much more confident of being free from the risks from Covid-19 as compared to the global average (19%).

The third reason differs from that of the global average as well, which is the disbelief that the vaccine will be effective (29%).

However, even for this reason, Malaysia stands at a slightly higher percentage than the average with a total of 33% of its population believing so.

Menon said public authorities should be conscious about the general apprehension on side effects and vaccine effectiveness as potential barriers of adoption.