MANILA — About 6 in 10 Filipinos are reluctant to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a survey released by Pulse Asia on Friday, as the Philippines continued to battle a surge in coronavirus infections.

Of 2,400 adults polled from Feb. 22 to March 3, 61 percent "do not want to get any COVID-19 vaccine— sentiment shared by majorities across geographic areas and socio-economic groupings," said Pulse Asia.

Only 16 percent of respondents said they wanted to get vaccinated, while about a quarter or 23 percent were unable to say whether or not they would get themselves vaccinated.

Most of those not getting vaccinated and those who are still uncertain "point to uncertainty about COVID-19 vaccines as the primary reason to explain their disinclination," said Pulse Asia.

Among Filipino adults inclined to get a COVID-19 vaccine, 52 percent said they prefer the vaccine developed by US firm Pfizer. On the other hand, 22 percent favor the vaccine by Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech, said Pulse Asia.

Vaccines preferred by at least 1 percent of those willing to get shots against the disease are the following:

• AstraZeneca- 6 percent
• Gamaleya Research Institute- 3 percent
• Johnson & Johnson- 1 percent
• Sinopharm- 1 percent

Moderna- 1 percent

The rest of Filipinos inclined to get vaccinated are either undecided about which COVID-19 vaccine to get or are willing to be
injected with whichever vaccine is available, at 6 and 9 percent, respectively.

The Philippines has so far received 1 million China-donated Sinovac doses and 525,600 AstraZeneca shots from vaccine-sharing platform COVAX Facility.

The lack of an indemnity deal delayed the supposed arrival of Pfizer shots in mid-February.

The Philippines aims to vaccinate 70 million people this year against COVID-19. It has yet to complete the inoculation of its top priority, some 1.7 million health workers.

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A recent surge in infections has pushed the country's total confirmed COVID-19 cases to 702,856, the second highest in Southeast Asia.

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Pulse Asia said its nationwide survey had a ± 2 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.