VANCOUVER -- A majority of Canadians would take a vaccine against the novel coronavirus if one ultimately becomes available, a new survey suggests.
According to results from a poll conducted by Research Co., of those surveyed, 73 per cent of respondents said they would "probably" or "definitely" take a vaccine against the virus. Among B.C. residents, 73 per cent of those surveyed said they would likely take a vaccine.
When asked about their personal routines during the pandemic, 47 per cent of Canadians said they are cleaning their groceries to prevent infection and 40 per cent said they are not ordering food from restaurants because they fear getting the virus.
"Practically two thirds of Canadians (65 per cent) expect most people to maintain their current precautions on hygiene after the COVID-19 outbreak ends," a news release from Research Co. said. "The same proportion foresee most companies keeping their current hygiene precautions as well."
Fourteen per cent of Canadians say they wear a mask every time they go out, including 19 per cent of British Columbians surveyed.
When it comes to food, 21 per cent of Canadians said they expect more people to consider adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet when the COVID-19 outbreak ends. That proportion rises to 26 per cent among B.C. residents surveyed.
"Across the country, residents of Quebec (55 per cent) and Ontario (54 per cent) are more hopeful of a return to normalcy early in the summer," said Mario Canseco, president of Research Co., in the news release. "Residents of Atlantic Canada and the western provinces are decidedly more skeptical."
Forty-four per cent of respondents from B.C. said they expect things to go back to the way they were before the pandemic around mid-September or later.
Results from the survey, which were released on Tuesday, are based on an online survey conducted from April 13 to 15 among 1,000 adults in Canada. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
