About half, or 52%, of Jewish Israelis said knowing that family holiday meals would include unvaccinated people could cause them to forgo the festivities, according to a poll released by the Israel Democracy Institute on Wednesday.
Some 43 percent of them said it would not affect their decision.
Respondents under 44 were less likely to say they would not attend festive meals for this reason compared to those over 45 — the majority of whom said they would.
Only 77 percent of Israelis under the age of 50 have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, compared to 94 percent of the elderly, according to the Health Ministry.
Almost a quarter (22.4 percent) of unvaccinated respondents said they were not against the vaccination, but simply had "failed" to get the vaccine.
Less than a third (29 percent) said they were concerned that vaccines could harm their health, and about a fifth (21 percent) said they did not believe vaccines could help prevent infection.
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Woman receives coronavirus vaccine booster shot at a Tel Aviv clinic
(Photo: Reuters)
Of the roughly 17 percent of Israelis who responded that they had not been vaccinated, 44 percent were under 35, matching national data showing that the lowest vaccination rate is among the younger population.
Respondents gave the new government an average score of 4.53 out of 10 for its handling of the current wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In particular, almost half (49 percent) of those polled think that the restrictions imposed by the government on unvaccinated people are not stringent enough.
This poll was published a few days before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which begins on the evening of September 6.