Survey: Estimated 51 % of American expats were vaccinated against the COVID-19

Written byAnne-Lise Mtyon 30 June 2021

The survey carried out during the month of June called on more than 3000 expats from everywhere around the world. Of the American expats who participated, 51% had already been vaccinated and 32% intended to get vaccinated in the future.

Above 200 American expats took part in the Expat.com survey over the month of June. They were mostly living in Thailand (9.1%), Vietnam (8.7%) and countries in Latin America or in Europe. Of the American living abroad who participated in our survey, 51% declared having already been vaccinated against the COVID-19, and 73% of these got vaccinated in their host country while 26.3% travelled to the United States to get vaccinated. As a comparison, according to data from the US authorities, 47% of American expats have been fully vaccinated.

Most American expats who participated in the survey received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (42.3%), the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine (24.3%) and the Moderna shot (16.2%) and the others received either Janssen, Sinovac or other less known vaccines.

Just like the vaccine rollout that has been pretty consistent within the US, 89.9% of Americans living abroad also stated that they had faced no significant challenges while seeking the vaccine. Among the 10% who did face challenges, most explained that they had had trouble getting appointments in their host country or that they had to wait a long time before they could get vaccinated. Some also mentioned they were not allowed vaccines in their host countries as an expat or that the vaccine offered in their host countries were not recognized in the US.

Of the expats who had not yet been vaccinated, 62.2% stated that they intended to get the vaccine in the future while 37.7% said that they would not want to get vaccinated. The most common explanation for not wanting to get vaccinated is the lack of trust in the COVID-19 vaccine because of the quick development of the shot. One expat explained “I do not trust the existing vaccines as they have been developed extremely quickly. I also feel like this push for vaccination is driven by fear, not real logic”.

Finally, only 47% of expats surveyed have explained having benefited from help from their governments to get vaccinated abroad and 69% of these have deemed the vaccination services provided to be satisfactory.

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Global Data

In all, more than 3000 expats living all over the planet took part in the above survey. In all, 49% of expatriate respondents indicated having been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Most of the vaccinated expats received the Pfizer-BioNTech shot (41%) followed by the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot (27%). 84% of vaccinated respondents said they had been vaccinated in their host country. 88% of the respondents indicated that they faced no challenges getting vaccinated and those who did face challenges explained that the vaccines proposed to them were either not recognized by the WHO or by their home country, or that they had trouble getting an appointment to get the shot.

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About the author

Anne-Lise Mty

Anne-Lise studied Psychology for 4 years in the UK before finding her way back to Mauritius and being a journalist for 3 years and heading Expat.com's editorial department for 5. She loves politics, books, tea, running, swimming, hiking...

Comments

SAR SAR454 years ago(Modified)
Its about immunity however you get it. Acquired Natural Immunity, 86% efficacy with Ivermectin. Do some research. Here's a start https://covid19criticalcare.com.

josephanoble544 years ago(Modified)
Maybe you should just close up shop. You sound more like the State Department than an advocacy group for Expats. Shame on you.

josephanoble544 years ago(Modified)
By spouting such nonsense, you are undermining legitimate efforts to get vaccine provided by home countries to their citizens abroad. Even the local governments are asking for help. France just started vaccinating it citizens in Thailand, at the the request of the Thai government. The US Executive Branch is refusing to do the same for Americans, even though 26 Senators just sign a letter requesting Secretary of State Blinken to set up such a program. An Americans pay taxes when living overseas!
The British Government is doing nothing to help it’s overseas citizen.

josephanoble544 years ago(Modified)
You conclusions and data are wrong.

deafdrummer4 years ago(Modified)
I won't do it for a number of reasons, but one of them stands out at me - what if the first vaccine's brand is not available in your home country or in the next country you have to work in (like #1 is some indigeous brand, and #2 is one of these mRNA vaccines)? There is NO RESEARCH on how two different brands of vaccines interact with each other.

Moldovan_Jim4 years ago(Modified)
I'm an EXPAT and I don't qualify to be vaccinated. I've been told this in 6 different countries. I'm only interested in being vaccinated because I travel. The USA is too cheap to pay for vaccinations for EXPATS and until I renounce my USA citizenship, I'm still an American and the USA should be accountable. I would accept the Sputnik V vaccine and would only accept other vaccines as a last option; however, I've been left behind by the USA.

Mulder123454 years ago(Modified)
I never heard of this poll but i did hear about the over 250k users being scrubbed off social media platforms for posting about adverse reactions. Some, quite horrific. I refuse to be a lab rat even if it means i can't travel. I will die on MY own terms.

JacquesAt604 years ago(Modified)
For obvious reasons, surveys are unreliable platforms for getting a true figure. How many expatriates were asked to participate, or were even aware that a survey existed (I didn't/wasn't)? It is unwise to make assumptions about the percentage of people who are protected with the first and second doses of these vaccines, when the number of infected people continues to climb in many countries.