Global: More than three in five worried about vaccine-resistant COVID strains

While the global vaccination programme has allowed some countries to inch closer towards pre-pandemic normality, new variants of COVID-19 are a real concern. In Britain, for example, scientists are worried that lockdown easing will create an environment where the jab is less able to protect the public from emerging strains of the virus. Reports have, however, shown that when it comes to the Delta variant, vaccines do offer significant defense against serious disease and hospitalization.

Nevertheless, YouGov shows that, broadly speaking, concerns about new strains are shared by the wider public. When people from across 17 countries are asked whether they are fairly or very worried about vaccine-resistant variants of COVID-19, more than three in five (63%) say they are - while a third say they are not (32%).

Concern is highest in Mexico, which recently recorded the largest jump in daily COVID-19 cases since February 2021: over four in five (83%) say they're concerned that vaccines won't offer sufficient protection against emerging strains of the virus. Spain has similar levels of concern (82%).

In fact, in every country in our study - regardless of continent - people are more worried about new strains of COVID-19 than not, with the lone exception of Denmark: two in five are concerned (39%), but over half are unbothered by the prospect of new variants (54%). In fact, the Scandinavian countries in our study are the least worried about new variants of any nation we polled: with 49% of Swedes concerned about unfamiliar forms of the virus and 45% unconcerned, there is a near-even split.

International governments have adopted different approaches to the Delta variant, with some opening up sooner rather than later - trusting the vaccines to offer suitable protection - and others taking a more cautious approach. Wherever they are, a significant proportion of the global public are apprehensive about the prospect of new COVID-19 variants.

Methodology

The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 17 markets. All interviews were conducted online in June 2021. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.

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