Fewer than half of Canadians would want to immediately get vaccinated once a COVID-19 treatment is available, according to polling data released Friday.

A study released Friday by the Angus Reid Institute (ARI) found just 39 per cent of Canadians say they’d immediately seek out a possible vaccine, while another 38 per cent said they would seek out the vaccine, but not right away.

The data marks a downturn nearly nationwide from a similar poll conducted by the institute in late July. Every province, save Saskatchewan, saw fewer respondents willing to immediately get vaccinated, led by a 13-per-cent dip in Alberta.

“A number of factors help explain why Canadians are voicing more hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccination,” ARI said in its recap of the data.

“One of the most prevalent concerns among both later adopters and those unwilling to get the vaccine centres on potential side effects … This is precisely what large-scale controlled trials are designed to study and identify, before the vaccine goes out for mass distribution.”

Of those who said they would immediately seek out a vaccine, 41 per cent of respondents said they would be worried about potential side effects.

The data was compiled via an online survey the institute ran from Sept. 23-25, 2020 among a sampling of 1,660 members of the Angus Reid Forum.