Delphi Readers Survey: A Big Public Mirror: Who’s Really Ready to Get Vaccinated

78 proc. Delphi visitors to the portal are determined to vaccinate: 52 percent. claim to do so, and 26% – are more likely to be vaccinated.

In a survey of 7,800 respondents, 22 percent. indicated that they did not plan to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The distribution between the responses of men and women is similar, but the results of respondents of different age groups differ markedly. 89 percent. In the 66+ age group, respondents indicated they planned to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Respondents most frequently reported vaccine information from Lithuanian news and television portals.

Matula: older people adequately assess the threat of the virus and therefore want to be vaccinated

When commenting on the survey to the visitors to the portal, the president of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee, Antanas Matulas, positively evaluated the results.

“The results of this survey are gratifying, since in some countries the results are worse and it would be very difficult to win that herd immunity. It takes a lot of effort to convince the public. ” Delphi said A. Matulas.

According to him, the results of this survey can realistically reflect the real mood of the public. According to the politician, it is gratifying to see a small difference of opinion between the neighbors of the regions and the big cities.

When asked why older people are more likely to get vaccinated, Matul said that people in this age group are simply more cautious about the possible threat of the virus to their health.

“The older society, which is probably scared by the high death rate, much higher than in other age groups, also thinks very adequately. This is a logical result. Now the Lithuanian government, the European Commission and the World Organization of Health must do everything possible to obtain sufficient quantities of the vaccine as soon as possible, ”said Committee President Seimas.

A. Matulas also pointed out that, according to a survey of visitors to the portal, the lowest proportion of those who plan to get vaccinated against the coronavirus is found in the group of people between 16 and 25 years old: 32% promise to be vaccinated and 23% do not . plan to vaccinate. surveyed.

According to A. Matul, this may be due to the misinformation that is spreading in the virtual space and the more skeptical attitude of young people to the threat of COVID-19 infection.

“They find a variety of information in cyberspace, they are interested in it, and yet there are people who cling to that information. All the more so since mortality at a younger age is low – the result is a variety of literature available to them. It is more difficult for young people to imagine that the disease can affect them, “noted A. Matulas.

The survey results also show a paradox, albeit up to 76 percent. 78% of respondents indicated that they understood and positively evaluated the benefits of vaccines, and 78%. respondents plan to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, but almost 32% of all respondents admitted to believe, however, that a vaccine against this infection is less safe than other vaccines against other diseases.

According to A. Matul, the caution of the people can be understood.

“A vaccine is generally invented and produced in three or four years. The vaccine took less than a year to appear; people are reading, you may have doubts about the rapid development of the vaccine. I take this as a matter of course. No However, the majority have the correct opinion that we may not have an alternative to the vaccine, ”said the parliamentarian.

See the problem: there is no longer an institution to dedicate to public education

Delphi The president of the Health Committee, who was interviewed in 2006, pointed out that it is very important to educate the public about vaccines, to explain the benefits of vaccines to the population, to help them not to get lost in the vast amount of information.

According to Matul, the Center for Communicable Diseases and AIDS (ULAC) was responsible for educating the public on vaccination issues, but former Minister of Health Aurelijus Veryga ordered the transfer of some of ULAC’s functions to the National Center for Public Health (NVSC).

“Their duties were to talk about vaccines, publicize, gather information, present it to various groups of people, about the flu, the measles outbreak, and vaccines. This center has made every effort to explain to the public, educating that coverage vaccination, for example, against measles, reaches a certain required level. Unfortunately Veryga, when she resigned (from the post of Minister of Health – aut.p.), essentially destroyed that service due to the transfer of the functions of this institution to the NVSC ”, continued A. Matulas.

A. Veryga signed a resolution to dismiss the head of ULAC prof. Saulius Čaplinskas from his current position, but the latter has been unable to work since November and promises to seek to change the former minister’s decision by legal means.

The new Health Minister, Arūnas Dulkys, in turn, said that he had no legal basis to change the former minister’s decision, so the institution currently operates without a head.

“This means that information is lacking, NVSC cannot do it qualitatively, because it does not have experience, skills and specialists, and ULAC employees leave their jobs, they are without a manager and without functions,” said A. Matulas about the situation.

According to him, the new Health Minister A. Dulkys should seek solutions to the problems.

“Those illogical orders from Veryga, which deprived the functions and ULAC, had to be repealed. Today, the information you are talking about (public education on vaccines – aut.p.) is very relevant and very important ”, stressed once again the president of the Seimas Health Affairs Commission.

„Antivaccinia works, and organized, state alternatives, the information is scarce. (…) We have absolute chaos in the institutions of the Ministry, ”said A. Matulas about the situation.

A survey commissioned by the Ministry: results – mid-February

Delphi it also shared the results of its visitor survey with the Ministry of Health (SAM). Representatives of the latter indicated that the ministry is also conducting a similar survey.

“SAM is currently commissioning a public survey on the approach to COVID-19. We should receive the results of this survey by mid-February,” the ministry said in a response.

According to SAM representatives, it is difficult to estimate the real number of vaccine opponents, but the situation in the virtual space, they assured, is monitored by other specialists.

“Yes, we note that there is no shortage of conspiracy theories about vaccines disseminated on social networks. Sometimes they are shared by ordinary citizens, and sometimes these conspiracy theories are shared from questionnaires specifically designed for this purpose to encourage people’s mistrust of the state and the vaccination process. Analysts from the Department of Strategic Communication of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, who regularly provide us with information about liars on the Internet about COVID-19 vaccines, also note about artificially developed questionnaires. ” Delphi in the reply sent.

Finally, the Ministry notes that, once it receives the results of the commissioned survey, it will adjust the strategy and plan for communicating with the public on vaccination issues accordingly.

“We see many people from different sectors of society who are positive about COVID-19. It is gratifying that many Lithuanian citizens tend to trust science, statements based on fact rather than fiction and lies. After receiving the results of the survey, we will adjust our communication activities accordingly to convince those who doubt the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine, “adds SAM’s response.

This survey was conducted in 2021. January 15-25. 7,800 randomly selected people attended Delphi portal visitors. Delphi the portal reaches about 65 percent per week. Lithuanian Internet Users.