South Koreans were more positive about receiving COVID-19 vaccination than people in most other countries, with nearly 9 out of 10 people expressing willingness to get vaccinated, a survey showed.

According to a survey by Gallup Korea on 1,500 Koreans last month, 32 percent of the respondents said they were “certain” and 55 percent said they were “likely” -- for a combined 87 percent -- to get vaccinated when the vaccines become available.

This was higher than the average of 71 percent among 32 countries that had conducted a similar poll.

Of those who were “certain” about receiving vaccination, 43 percent of them were in their 60s or older. Only 23 percent of those aged between 19 and 29 said they would certainly get vaccinated.

Some 10 percent of the respondents said they would not or “certainly” not get the vaccines, according to the poll.

By country, people in Vietnam responded most positively to COVID-19 vaccinations at 98 percent, followed by India and China at 91 percent. Denmark was tied with Korea at 87 percent.

Some 81 percent people in the UK, 77 percent in Canada, 66 percent in the US and 65 percent in Germany were willing to be vaccinated.

Serbians were most negative about getting vaccinated among those surveyed, with only 38 percent saying they would receive the vaccination. Less than 45 percent of people in Croatia, France and Lebanon said they wanted to get vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the Korean government plans to begin COVID-19 vaccinations in February, with health workers and at-risk groups first in line. On Tuesday, the government agreed to secure doses for 20 million people in Korea from the US biotech firm Moderna.

The survey had a confidence level of 95 percent with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)