More than 40% of over-80s have broken lockdown rules since getting vaccinated - survey

More than 40% of over-80s have broken lockdown rules since getting vaccinated – survey

Mar 04, 2021

More than 40% of the over-80s have broken lockdown rules after getting vaccinated against coronavirus, new data suggests.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) asked more than 2,000 people over 80 in England about their attitudes toward COVID-19.

Some 43% said they had met up with someone outside their household, support or care bubble indoors after getting their first jab.

And 41% admitted they did so less than three weeks after getting their first dose, “appearing to break lockdown regulations”.

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Public health officials advise that coronavirus vaccines only start to offer protection two to three weeks after they are administered.

Government scientists have also warned people against breaking lockdown rules despite getting their vaccines, as they could still pass the virus to someone else and cause it to mutate in the other person.

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The numbers who had mixed indoors with people outside their household increased to 48% for those who had been given both doses.

Vaccines also appear to have resulted in more confidence in using other health services, as a third of those polled who have had both doses said they would now be more likely to visit a hospital.

This dropped to a quarter of people who had just been given a first dose.

For GP appointments, 31% of those who had been given both jabs said they would attend, compared to 26% who had just had one.

The overwhelming majority – 96% – of over-80s surveyed said they would recommend the jab to others having had it themselves.

In total 99.8% of the people involved in the survey had been offered a vaccine and 78% had received their first dose more than three weeks ago. Participants were questioned between 15 and 20 February.

Responding to the results, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s important that people continue to follow the guidelines that are in place.”

Pushed on whether he thought the elderly were behaving irresponsibly, the spokesman said: “We are asking everybody to continue to follow the rules and guidelines.”

Tim Gibbs, of the ONS public services analysis team, added: “The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination is, no doubt, a huge relief to many people aged over 80, as we can see that almost half of all them, when asked, considered COVID-19 to be a major or significant personal risk before receiving the vaccination – this decreases to just 5% having the same concern after hypothetically receiving both doses of the vaccine.

“It will hopefully also improve a wider quality of life for this group.”

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