KYIV. June 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Half of Ukrainians, mostly older, consider coronavirus infection a serious disease, there is a tendency to treat COVID-19 as a dangerous disease, according to a survey conducted by the Ukrainian Institute for the Future (UIF).

Presenting the results of a sociological study at the Interfax-Ukraine agency, Doctor of Sociological Sciences Oleksandr Shulha said that since February 2021, the Ukrainian Institute for the Future has conducted polls on the seriousness of Ukrainians' perception of the coronavirus.

"We see that now 50% of respondents consider it not only a real and dangerous disease. If we compare it with February, when we first conducted a study on this issue, then it was 41%. That is, the number of those who believe that the coronavirus is not only a serious, but also a dangerous disease has increased significantly," he said.

According to him, the number of those who believe that the danger of COVID-19 should not be exaggerated has decreased: 37% of respondents thought so in February and 27% of those surveyed think so in May.

"People have begun to take the coronavirus and its dangers more seriously," he concluded.

At the same time, as Shulha emphasized, the number of "coronavirus" skeptics remains practically unchanged: as in February, in May, 3% of Ukrainians continue to believe that the coronavirus does not exist at all. In May, 14% of respondents perceived COVID-19 as a common disease like ARVI or influenza, and 15% of respondents think so in February.

Shulha also stressed that, according to the study, the attitude towards COVID-19 depends on the age of the respondent.

"Young people tend to take the coronavirus less seriously. Among the older generation, 57% consider this disease serious, and among young people only 38%," he said.

As for the attitude towards vaccination, according to the survey, it has not changed significantly. The number of those who do not intend to be vaccinated, regardless of the availability of the vaccine, practically does not change - 44% of respondents in February and 45% in May.

The number of those who intend to get vaccinated remains approximately the same, given the country of origin of the vaccine: in February it was 18% of respondents, and in May - 20%.

At the same time, the number of those who want to get vaccinated no matter what, increased from 8% to 13%, respectively.

The survey was conducted by the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in May 2021. Some 2,400 respondents were interviewed throughout Ukraine. The sampling error does not exceed 2%.