Just over seven in 10 Dutch people in the Netherlands will have a coronavirus vaccine when it is their turn, national statistics agency CBS said on Thursday, on the basis of its latest quarterly health monitor.

Some 66% of the 2,000 people questioned in the first quarter of this year said they would be vaccinated and 4% had already been so, the survey found. The research was carried out before the vaccination programme got up to steam.

However, 14% of respondents – who were aged 16 plus – said they would not be vaccinated and 15% said they did not have an opinion either way.

Unwillingness to be vaccinated decreases the older people get, with nearly one in five of the under 30s saying they would not accept a jab.

Dutch blood bank Sanquin said in early May that at least 67% of the population must have antibodies in their blood to achieve a level of herd immunity.

An estimated 8.6 million doses of vaccine have been given in the Netherlands so far, and people in their 40s are now being invited to make an appointment.

Some 13% of the CBS survey respondents said they thought they had already had coronavirus, although only 40% of them had this confirmed via a test.