Three in five people would be willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine at 11PM, undermining claims from the UK government this week that 24-hour vaccination centres wouldn’t be used by the public. 

Earlier this week, a Downing Street spokesperson had caused controversy by claiming that there was “no clamour” for a dose of the vaccine past 8PM. After backlash over the idea that there wasn’t demand at unsociable hours, Boris Johnson announced at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday that the UK would begin rolling out 24-hour vaccine centres “as soon as we can,” without providing further details.

Research conducted for VICE World News by market research consultancy Censuswide this week found that people of all ages would in fact be willing to get the vaccine past 8PM – in some cases with those over 55 more willing than young people.

According to the over 2,000 respondents, 42 percent would be “very willing” to attend a vaccine appointment at 11 PM, compared to just 8 percent who were not willing at all. When broken down by age, 54 percent of over-55s were willing to get the vaccine at that time, compared to 28 percent of 16-24-year-olds. 

But what about true, 24-hour vaccinations? When asked if respondents would be willing to get the vaccine at 3AM, 32 percent said they would be very willing and 14 said they were somewhat willing, compared to 17 percent who would not be willing at all. Once again, over-55s were the most willing to get the vaccine at unsociable times, with 43 percent very willing to attend a vaccine appointment at 3AM. Only 21 percent of 16-24 year olds would be very willing to get the vaccine at this time. You can see a full breakdown of the results here.

​Photo: Josh Crumpler.

The survey also revealed preferences over the type of vaccine administered. Currently, three vaccines have been approved for use in the UK: Pfizer/BioNTech, University of Oxford/ AstraZeneca, and Moderna, which was approved earlier this month. When asked which, if any, vaccine people would prefer, 49 percent said they had no preference, while 24 percent said the University of Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine. Ten percent said they would choose the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine, while only 4 percent said they would choose the Moderna vaccine. Fourteen percent said they would not get the COVID-19 vaccine at all. 

This data comes after reports that some doctors had seen patients refuse the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in favour of waiting for “the English” vaccine. 

The UK was the first Western country to begin vaccinating its general population, but issues with roll out and policies over second vaccines have caused disruption at surgeries and care homes. VICE World News found that surplus vaccines were being distributed on an ad-hoc basis by health care staff, leading to less vulnerable patients being given the vaccine over those deemed higher priority. 

At time of publishing, the UK has vaccinated almost 3 million people with a first dose.