Labour voters are more likely than Conservative supporters to say fully vaccinated people should self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has coronavirus
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, today announced that, from 16 August, people who have had both doses of the coronavirus vaccine will not have to isolate after coming into close contact with someone who tests positive. But YouGov polling shows that the public are divided on the move.
Some 41% of Britons say double-jabbed people should self-isolate, while 40% say they should not. Another 18% are uncertain.
While these opinions vary little across age groups, they do differ across the political spectrum. While over a third (37%) of Conservative voters say the vaccinated people should self-isolate, nearly half (48%) believe they should not. It is almost a mirror image when it comes to Labour supporters, with 48% wanting fully vaccinated people to continue with quarantining while one in three (34%) do not.
The polling also shows that one in five Britons (18%) have either been asked or taken it upon themselves to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. The figure includes one in twenty (5%) who have had to do so more than once.
Young people are the most likely to have self-isolated. Among 18-to-24-year-olds, a quarter (25%) have done it once, while another one in eight (12%) have had to do it at least twice.
In contrast, 9% of people aged 65 and over have had to self-isolate, including 1% who had to do it more than once.