Cape Town – In order to end the Covid-19 pandemic, health experts and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said the majority of people need to be vaccinated to safely reach herd imnimunity and limit the spread of the virus.
However, in the wake of the delayed AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine roll-out, some South Africans have voiced their concerns about taking any Covid-19 vaccine even when the next batch becomes available in the country.
Last week, South Africa received 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII) and had planned to administer it to health-care workers.
A study from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and Oxford University found the vaccine only offered limited protection against mild disease caused by the variant of Covid-19 first discovered in South Africa.
The trial’s principal investigator, Shabir Madhi, said the results were disappointing, however there are other options — such as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — that have shown promise against the South African variant.
Speaking to IOL, he said: “I think with the recent announcements there is a reason to be somewhat hesitant, but at the end of the day, the toss up is between heading into another resurgence where people are not be vaccinated and they are risking their lives, or taking a chance of getting something that won’t do any harm to you but you could potentially benefit from”.
Health and other services personnel trade union of South Africa (Hospersa) spokesperson, Kevin Halama, said that vaccine hesitancy could increase after the delayed roll-out announcement as already many health workers have voiced they aren’t comfortable being the first ones in line to receive the shot.
“From our observations, it is safe to say that the delay further adds to the uncertainty of whether the vaccine that will be administered would actually provide protection,” said Halama.
“At this point, there has been little communication on the ground to health workers on the different vaccines that are being considered and reasons why they are being considered. On the ground there are still concerns about the vaccination programme as a whole, not so much about the choice of vaccine,” he said.
A psychologist at Denmar Clinic in Pretoria, Marietjie Visser says from her observation in her practice, the delayed vaccine roll-out in the country and the pandemic has increased the levels of anxiety in people.
“There are three groups of people with different views on the vaccine. Those that would take it, those that will be hesitant due to the delayed roll-out, and those that say no to the vaccine all together because of the side effects they think it will have on them,” she said.
Last month, a survey revealed that 52% of South Africans would not take the vaccine if it were available to them.
The Fintech company who conducted the survey, CompariSure, said that 34% of those who voted they wouldn’t take the vaccine cited “side effects” as their main concern.