By Pearl Gumapos
According to the Social Weather Survey’s (SWS) poll from April 28 to May 2, 2021, 63% of adult Filipinos chose the United States of America as their preferred source of COVID-19 vaccines.
The May 2021 survey asked Filipinos what country of origin of the vaccine they prefer.
USA topped the list with 63%, distantly followed by China (19%), Japan (13%), Australia (13%), United Kingdom (13%), Canada (12%), Russia (12%), Germany (8%), Korea (6%), and India (3%).
Over 7 million COVID-19 vaccines were delivered to the Philippines at the time of the survey.
Most of the vaccines were 5 million doses of Sinovac, 2.5 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca, and 30,000 doses of Gamaleya Sputnik.
SWS asked, furthermore, which vaccine would Filipinos choose.
The survey showed that Sinovac Biotech and Pfizer-BioNTech topped the list of preferred brands at 39% and 33% respectively.
Next on the list was Oxford-AstraZeneca (22%), Johnson & Johnson (10%), Moderna (7%), CureVac (3%), Sinopharm (3%), Novavax (3%), Sanofi-GSK (3%), and Gamaleya (2%).
Meanwhile, 76% of those who preferred China chose Sinovac Biotech.
For those who preferred the US as a country of origin, they chose Pfizer-BioNTech (43%), as well as the China-sourced Sinovac Biotech (41%).
Those who chose the United Kingdom also chose Oxford-AstraZeneca.
As regards areas of the Philippines, the US is the most preferred country-origin–66% in the Visayas, 65% in Balance Luzon, 63% in Metro Manila, and 54% in Mindanao.
According to the survey, preference for the US rises with education: it is highest among college graduates (67%), followed by junior high school graduates (66%), elementary graduates (58%), and non-elementary graduates (55%).
The survey says that Sinovac Biotech is the most preferred brand in Mindanao (44%) and the Visayas (44%).
On the other hand, Sinovac Biotech and Pfizer-BioNTech are equally preferred in Metro Manila (both at 37%) and Balance Luzon (36% and 33%, respectively).
According to the survey, by education, Sinovac Biotech topped the list among junior high school graduates (43%), elementary graduates (34%), and non-elementary graduates (36%).
In comparison, preference for Pfizer-BioNTech rises with education: it topped among college graduates (46%), compared to junior high school graduates (36%), elementary graduates (26%), and non-elementary graduates (21%), the survey said. -rir
