Just 5% of people now say they will refuse a COVID vaccine, according to a new survey.

The Ipsos MRBI research for the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) shows that vaccine hesitancy has fallen 36% over the past 10 months.

The survey, carried out between July 30th and August 15th 5% of people will not get a vaccine and 4% were unsure.

That has fallen from the 33% who were unsure and 12% who said they would not get vaccinated when the survey was first carried out last October.

IPHA spokesman Bernard Mallee told Newstalk that the safety of vaccines is increasing the public’s confidence in them.

“Of course, we know that strict safety protocols are key in testing vaccines during trials and in the community and I think these safety protocols combined with the evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines in fighting COVID-19 is really boosting public confidence,” he said.

“That is why we have a huge take-up in terms of vaccination for the disease in this country.”

The survey also found that 86% of 18 to 34-year-olds either plan to get vaccinated or already have been.

The percentage that would refuse has fallen from 19% last October to 7% this month and the percentage of those that are unsure has fallen from 32% to 8%.

Mr Mallee said Ireland has a very low rate of hesitancy.

“That means we have a very effective steel fence around us as a community in terms of fighting this awful disease,” he said.

The poll was carried out among a nationally representative sample of 1,002 adults over the age of 18.

As of Saturday night, Ireland had administered a total of 6,783,387 vaccine doses.

Just over 3.1 million people were fully vaccinated.