Only 31% of Lebanese Want to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine

Only 31% of Lebanese Want to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine

An ambulant vendor pulls his handcart in the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli, north of Beirut. (AFP)

Only 31 percent of the Lebanese people want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, an opinion poll revealed on Monday.

Information International published results of an opinion poll it had conducted on the willingness of the Lebanese population to receive the vaccine, from January 30 to February 4, 2021, and based on a sample of 500 people, including all age groups.

"The majority of 38% of respondents said they were unwilling to receive the vaccine, while 31% said they would, while another 31% were undecided,“ Information International revealed.

More specifically, the percentage of those who want to receive the vaccine increased to 44% among the 60- to 64-year-old age group, yet it began to drop as the age groups went above 65 (33%) or under 60 (29%).

MP Assem Araji, head of Lebanon's parliamentary health committee, expressed on Monday his fears that the virus would begin spread more rapidly.

"The vaccine is the only solution and guarantee to prevent the coronavirus' spread, not just in Lebanon, but throughout the world,“ he said,

Araji warned that the highly contagious British variant of the coronavirus has been identified in Lebanon, adding, however, that