Thank you.
I guess I am here as a medical anthropologist working on vaccine acceptance.
I'd like to emphasize that at this time our vaccine supply does not meet vaccine demand and that the work we're doing in Quebec looking at vaccine intentions indicates that most Canadians are willing to be vaccinated.
We can see vaccine acceptance in a continuum ranging from a very tiny minority of people who are strongly opposed to vaccination—it's fewer than 2%—to the vast majority of people who are willing to be vaccinated.
In the middle are the vaccine hesitant, the movable middle. Those groups are a bit more concerned about vaccine and maybe more reluctant to get their vaccination, and that's the group among whom we're seeing the most public health gains in ensuring confidence and acceptance.
Our regular surveys conducted in Quebec are similar to those done elsewhere in Canada. They indicate that three out of four people are willing to be vaccinated, but of course between an intention and actual behaviour there's a gap, and we need to ensure that barriers to vaccine acceptance are understood and well addressed.
These could be grouped in three main categories.
First is complacency. Depending where you live in Canada, if there are no COVID cases around you, you might be less willing to get the vaccination.
The second one is confidence. It's the level of trust that people have in the public health authority and the government to make good decisions concerning vaccination and to ensure that information is available to make an informed decision about vaccine.
The last one is convenience. It's something we tend to overlook, but the ease of getting access to a vaccination, of making an appointment, of being reminded that it's your turn to be vaccinated, is also important.
Thank you.