Most Filipinos prefer US as source of anti-COVID vaccine
MANILA, Philippines — Most Filipinos prefer the COVID-19 vaccine brand manufactured in the United States followed by China, latest results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey reveal.
In a survey results released Monday, most of the 1,200 adults have expressed preference on US-made vaccines at 63 percent, while China is at far second at 19 percent.
Japan ranked third at 13 percent, followed by Australia and the United Kingdom at 13 percent; Canada and Russia, 12 percent; Germany, 8 percent; South Korea 6 percent; and India, 3 percent. Two percent chose all 10 countries, while 12 percent did not give an answer.
Source: Social Weather Stations
The SWS also disclosed that in terms of vaccine brand preference, 39 percent of Filipinos prefer Sinovac Biotech, followed by Pfizer BioNtech at 33 percent, AstraZeneca at 22 percent.
Source: Social Weather Stations
The US-made shots are also preferred by all respondents in all areas and education levels at 66 percent in Visayas, 65 percent in Balance Luzon, 63 percent in Metro Manila, and 54 in Mindanao.
SWS, however, noted that the preference for US brand “rises with education,” as it was most preferred among college graduates, 67 percent, followed by junior high school graduates, 66 percent; while elementary and non-elementary graduates posted 58 and 55 percent, respectively.
Preference for Sinovac Biotech, meanwhile, rises among junior high school graduates at 43 percent; elementary graduates, 34 percent; and non-elementary graduates at 36 percent.
Sinovac as top brand choice
Despite the preference for American-made vaccines, many Filipinos have chosen Sinovac Biotech at 39 percent, while Pfizer-BioNTech is a close second at 32 percent, followed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson at 22 and 10 percent, respectively.
The rest obtained single-digit scores with Moderna getting 7 percent; CureVac, Sinopharm, Novavax, and Sanofi-GSK all got three percent; and Gamaleya at two percent.
Two percent chose all 10 brands, while 19% did not give an answer.
Meanwhile, Sinovac Biotech is most preferred in Visayas and Mindanao, while Pfizer and Sinovac are “equally preferred” in Metro Manila and Balanced Luzon.
Sinovac is the most preferred brand in Visayas and Mindanao at 44 percent. While Sinovac and Pfizer are equally preferred, in Metro at 37 percent, while the numbers in Balance Luzon is at 36 and 33 percent, respectively.
The First Quarter 2021 survey was conducted from April 28 to May 2, 2021, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide: 300 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, according to SWS.
SWS said the sampling error margins are ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
