Coronavirus (COVID-19): highest risk - survey report - July 2021

Key Findings

1. 59% of respondents felt uncomfortable about the move towards Level 0 and beyond in Scotland

The top reasons provided for those who felt uncomfortable about easing restrictions included:

• concerns about the behaviour of others (100% of respondents cited this as a reason)
• the high case numbers (at the time of the survey being live)
• the measures in place not making them feel safer
• being unsure how effective the vaccine was for them

2. Many people are still not meeting people outside of their household or extended household

Despite the easing in restrictions and high take up of the vaccine in this cohort, in the last 2 months:

• 24% of respondents had not met people outdoors who were not part of their household or extended household
• 50% of respondents had not met people indoors who are not part of their household or extended household
• 2% of respondents had not left their home for any reason

3. 73% of respondents who expected to return to work in the coming months felt uncomfortable about this

From previous research with people at highest risk, we know that returning to work was an area of concern for key workers and those who were unable to work from home. These concerns seems to continue for those who have not had to be in the workplace so far, but may be asked to after the more recent easing in restrictions.

4. 30% of respondents who had chosen not to get a vaccination were worried about side effects

While the number of people who had not had a vaccination was low (n46), the key reasons for why they had decided not to go ahead were:

• being worried about the side effects (30%)
• thinking the vaccination had been developed too quickly (28%)
• not feeling confident that the vaccine had been tested on people with their health condition (26%)
• being unable to get vaccinated because of their condition (24%)