There has been a surge in the number of Canadians who are opposed to or skeptical of vaccines since the COVID-19 pandemic, a pollster has claimed.

A majority of parents with kids under the age of 18 said they are against mandatory vaccination, according to the Angus Reid Institute’s survey.

Most (54 per cent) men aged 35–54, meanwhile, were either skeptical of vaccination or opposed to it. 

Photo credit: ARI

The pollster said there has been a four-fold increase in the proportion of parents who say they are “really against” vaccinating their kids (17 per cent) compared with 2019.

There has also been a decrease in the percentage of Canadians who support mandatory childhood vaccinations in schools – down from 70 per cent in 2019 to 55 per cent in 2024.

The apparent attitude shift comes in the wake of the COVID-19 disaster, during which most people were forced to take vaccines as a condition of remaining full members of Canadian society.

Many were also told they must be vaccinated to keep their jobs.

Photo credit: ARI

Vaccination rates for other maladies have now declined – in Canada and elsewhere in the world – with diseases once thought defeated, such as polio, returning. 

The vast majority (71 per cent) of respondents to the Angus Reid Poll said they thought anti-vaccination movements are “going to lead to unnecessary illness and suffering.”

The percentage of people who think opposition to childhood vaccination is “irresponsible” has also remained essentially unchanged since 2015, with between 72 and 75 per cent of people holding that view.

But the poll also found marked divisions between different groups of people.

Photo credit: ARI

More than half (52 per cent) of parents with kids under 18 said they were opposed to mandatory vaccination of youngsters, compared to only 32 per cent of people who don’t have kids under 18.

Only 22 per cent of women over 54, meanwhile, are either opposed to or skeptical of vaccines, compared with 56 per cent of men aged between 35 and 54.

“One thing that unifies Canadians across this spectrum is a sense that these are now more difficult issues to talk about with friends and family,” the pollster explained.

“At least one-in-five across each of the four vaccine acceptance groups say these are issues they worry about bringing up in social circles.”

Read the survey results here.