SWS: 4 of 5 vaccinated Pinoys want to get booster shots

Motorists line up aboard their four-wheeled vehicles at the drive-thru booster vaccination site in the Quirino Grandstand in Manila City on Thursday, January 13, 2022. Photo from the Manila Public Information Office

Four out of five Filipinos vaccinated against COVID-19 said they would get a booster shot, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which found that willingness to get a booster shot was high across geographic areas and educational levels.

Results of the Dec. 12 to Dec. 16 poll released late Thursday showed that among respondents inoculated with at least one dose, 73 percent would “surely” get a booster shot while 7 percent would “probably” get a booster shot.

Seven percent were unwilling while 13 percent were uncertain.

The survey used in-person interviews among 1,440 adult Filipinos and had a sampling margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.6 percent for national percentages and plus-or-minus 5.2 percent for Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao, and Luzon outside Metro Manila.

As of Jan. 26, some 60.2 million Filipinos have been inoculated with at least one dose, data from the national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard show. Some 58.4 million have been fully vaccinated or 53 percent of the country’s 110 million population while 7 million or 6.4 percent of the population have received booster shots.

The SWS in an earlier report said fewer Filipinos were skeptical about getting a COVID-19 vaccine, from 33 percent in May last year to 21 percent in June 2021, 18 percent in September 2021 and only 8 percent in December 2021.

Among vaccinated adults, the percentage of those willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot was highest in Luzon outside Metro Manila at 82 percent, followed by 81 percent in Metro Manila, 79 percent in the Visayas and 78 percent in Mindanao.

When grouped by educational attainment, the percentage of those willing to get a booster shot among vaccinated adults was 86 percent among college graduates, 79 percent among junior high school graduates, 77 percent among elementary school graduates and 82 percent among nonelementary school graduates. —Inquirer Research