King’s College London
Covid-19 vaccines: confidence, concerns and behaviours
Read the research
The public’s preference for the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine has declined since last month, and belief that it causes blood clots has increased – but despite this, vaccine confidence is higher than it was towards the end of 2020, and there has been a big rise in the proportion of people who say they want to be vaccinated as soon as possible, according to a new study.
The research, by the University of Bristol, King’s College London and the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, is based on a survey of 4,896 UK adults aged 18 to 75 conducted between 1 and 16 April 2021. This follows up a study in Nov/Dec 2020 and tracks some of the same individuals to see how their views have changed and why.
Since my last “
Licensing Expert” article for SBC News, the stand-out issues in UK gambling regulatory terms have been (a) the circumstances giving rise to the UK Government’s 20 April announcement of an independent review into the collapse of Football Index and (b) the sudden unexpected departure of Neil McArthur from his position as Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission within just a few days after the Football Index operating licence was suspended. You can read here the full details on what led up to that suspension and all that has happened since then.
The above announcement states that an ‘independent expert’ (a) will lead the review and (b) in addition to establishing how Football Index collapsed and identifying lessons to be learned from that, will look at the decisions and actions of the Gambling Commission with a view to the findings being made public in the summer. Those findings will also form part of the evidence for the purposes of the government’s rev
Study shows why social media users are more hesitant about getting vaccinated
New research has found that the most reliable indicators of willingness to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are rejection of conspiracy suspicions about COVID-19 and a positive attitude towards vaccines in general. The study by King s College London and the University of Bristol is published in the leading peer-reviewed journal
Psychological Medicine.
The researchers analysis was based on a large representative sample survey carried out in November-December 2020. They looked at a range of factors that previous studies had found to be related to hesitancy about getting vaccinated against the coronavirus and found that:
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New research has found that the most reliable indicators of willingness to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are rejection of conspiracy suspicions about COVID-19 and a positive attitude towards vaccines in general. The study by King s College London and the University of Bristol is published in the leading peer-reviewed journal
Psychological Medicine.
The researchers analysis was based on a large representative sample survey carried out in November-December 2020. They looked at a range of factors that previous studies had found to be related to hesitancy about getting vaccinated against the coronavirus and found that:
Women, young people, less-educated people, and members of other than white ethnic groups are more hesitant about getting vaccinated
Involve academics in confronting academic freedom issues
Aside from expressions of support for the targeted individuals and organisations, however, there appear to be few substantial ideas on how academics can work together in a practical way to preserve the integrity and credibility of their profession.
The threats to academic freedom are, of course, most conspicuous for academics working under autocratic regimes.
Yet their colleagues in more open societies find themselves with little leverage for improving the situation when their own institutions fail to take a lead. This situation is becoming more precarious as plans by governments to impose solutions raise the prospect of a further erosion of institutional autonomy and going down the path of global decoupling that would be detrimental to all sides.