[ad_1]
More than a third of South Africans would not be willing to receive a Covid-19 vaccine when it becomes available, a new study suggests.
The study was conducted by market researchers at Ipsos, for the World Economic Forum, and saw nearly 20,000 people from 27 countries around the world surveyed between the end of July and the beginning of August.
Overall, 74% of those surveyed agreed that they would receive a vaccine if one was found. However, at just 64%, intention in South Africa was the fifth lowest. It was lower only in Russia, Poland, Hungary and France.
And of the South Africans who did agree to receive a vaccine, only 29% “strongly” agreed. Another 35% only agreed “somewhat”.
According to global trends, more than half of South Africans who said they would not get vaccinated (53%) cited concerns about side effects as the reason. This was the number one reason around the world, Ipsos said.
Other reasons included doubts about the effectiveness of a vaccine – cited by 24% of South Africans who said they would not get vaccinated – and not being at “enough” risk – cited by 16%.
READ ALSO: Covid-19 daily update: 13 more deaths on the eve of Level 1, the world approaches 1 million deaths
Overall, 17% of respondents who said they would not get vaccinated cited general opposition to vaccinations. This was higher than the average in South Africa, where 23% based their responses on this.
Ipsos said the research highlighted that “specific issues” must be addressed before a vaccine is universally accepted.
“The reasons given for not intending to get vaccinated focus on four main issues, but the importance of these issues differs from country to country,” he said.
“WHO, national governments and pharmaceutical companies that distribute vaccines must develop differentiated strategies to address these problems for different countries, as it will be important to achieve the so-called ‘herd immunity’ to the threat of the SARS-Cov-2 virus. will disappear”.
For more news your way, download The Citizen app to iOS and Android.
[ad_2]
