Johannesburg – While some South Africans are apprehensive about taking the Covid-19 vaccine, there appears to be an overwhelming desire from the majority of the nation to get inoculated against the novel coronavirus.
This was according to the findings of the latest round of The University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)’s Covid-19 Democracy Survey.
Their research on the South African public’s willingness to take a Covid-19 vaccine and reasons for their decision this week revealed that a whopping 67% of adults would definitely or probably take a vaccine if it was available.
This was in stark contrast to the 18% of surveyed adults who said they would definitely or probably not take a vaccine and the 15% who still did not make their minds up yet on whether to get the jab.
Health workers will be the first batch of the country’s 40 million population to be vaccinated.
While Professor Carin Runciman, UJ’s Centre for Social Change (CSC) director admitted that she was somewhat surprised by the high levels of vaccine acceptance, she now believes that most South Africans will welcome the initiative.
“There is good demand for the vaccine in South Africa and now the pressure is on the government to deliver it,” she told the Saturday Star this week.
“Most people want the vaccine and it's not the case of it arriving in the country and no one wants to take it.”
Runciman explained that this research has been ongoing since April last but this was the first time that the vaccine questions were introduced.
But she believes that the high infection and death rates experienced during the second wave of coronavirus infections could have convinced many of the nation’s adult population to get vaccinated.
The findings of the latest rounds of this study was completed by 10 618 participants and are broadly representative of the population at large as it was weighted by race, education and age, while the questionnaire was available in the country’s six most widely spoken languages.
“Our sample size was bigger than other studies of its kind,” she said.
While conspiracy theories and fake news about the global health crisis were the contributing factors for some of the participants being wary about taking the vaccine, Runciman said they accounted for a small percentage against getting the jab.
Instead, she explained that the study’s participants had other genuine concerns about the coronavirus vaccine.
“Those who said they were hesitant about taking the vaccine listed reasons pertaining to fake news and conspiracy theories but this only accounted for around 10% of the reasons not to get it.
“Most people who were apprehensive listed reasons like the vaccine’s side effects and uncertainty around the speed of it being developed and tested.
“Some of the adult participants didn't even know enough about vaccines in general because they usually only get them when they are young.”
Despite those who are still weary about the Covid-19 vaccine, Runciman is thrilled by the high numbers of those who are willing to take the vaccine and said that good public education could still convince those who are not on board.
“Public education on this matter is very important and the government needs to take the lead on this. We also need civil society and religious leaders to get involved.”
The health department as well as the National Institute For Communicable Diseases (NICD) has already started a widespread social media campaign to educate the South African public on the Covid-19 vaccine.
In one post, the NICD insisted that “vaccines saves lives” and that there is no microchip or tracking device in any of the vaccines and that it does not alter DNA.
Meanwhile, the UJ/HSRC Covid-19 Democracy Survey also revealed that politics plays a role in South African’s decision to get the vaccine as 48% of non-voters said they were not convinced to get vaccinated.
“An interesting take away from the research was that deciding whether or not to take the vaccine was not necessarily about political alliances but more political disillusionment.
“Our findings also showed that there was a 73% acceptance amongst those who liked President Ramaphosa and thought he was doing a good or very good job in handling the Covid-19 outbreak.”
Race, education and age also played a role in shaping vaccine acceptance as the research findings showed that 69% of black African adults would definitely or probably take the vaccine, compared with 55% of white adults.
Meanwhile, acceptance among adults with less than matric-level education was 72%, compared with 59% for those with tertiary education.