60 percent of Canadians in favour of mandatory vaccines, Liberal voters more in favour than Conservatives

Around the globe, several countries including Israel, the United States, and Canada have researchers and scientists working day and night on a coronavirus vaccine.

Vaccines can take a while to hit the market and become publicly accessible, but Canadians are now split as to whether the vaccine should be mandatory or not—a potentially frightening government overreach to some, and a necessary step to return to normalcy for others.

According to a poll conducted by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, 60 percent of respondents believe that a vaccine, once discovered, should be mandatory, while the remaining 40 percent believe it should be voluntary.

Other results from the poll found that nearly 70 percent of Canadians who have been forced to work from home would like to continue working from home post-crisis, and 45 percent of Canadians believe that the government should be able to use location data to monitor social distancing.

The results are not entirely surprising. Canadians have heard repeatedly from the prime minister that we are living in a "new normal" until a vaccine is found, and just yesterday, Justin Trudeau told reporters that even with a vaccine, normalcy would not return to life for several years.

Canadians and certainly the global population are craving some return to normalcy in their lives. The unintended consequences of self-isolation, including worsened mental and physical health, increased substance and alcohol abuse, and a rise in suicides due to job losses, are clearly unsustainable for more than a few months.

On the flip side, we cannot jump back into regular life, as a potential second wave could bring the ever-feared overwhelming of Canada's health systems.

On the matter, Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque told the Canadian Press that he was surprised the number wasn't higher than 60 percent.

“It’s almost as if it’s seen as just another flu vaccine...  I myself would have expected a higher number given the severity, given the crisis we’re in. But Canadians are kind of divided on this.”

The survey found that it was largely older Canadians who were in favour of the mandatory vaccine. Liberal voters were also more likely to agree with the vaccine, while Conservatives were least likely.

The survey was conducted online, from April 24 to 26, with 1,515 Canadian respondents over the age of 18. The internet-based survey cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered random samples.