WATCH: South Africans are more hesitant than hopeful about Covid jab

Two recent surveys have found independently of each other South Africans are more hesitant than hopeful about the Covid-19 vaccine.

In technology company’s M4Jam survey of 3 000 people, 32% said they would have the vaccine, 58% said they preferred to wait and see whether it worked for others and 10% would refuse to take it.

“This shows that although most South Africans are extremely worried about contracting the virus, the fear of the unknown is great enough to prevent widespread acceptance of the vaccine,” said M4Jam chief executive Georgie Midgley.

The respondents listed the following as the main issues of concern: possible side-effects (68%), lack of trust in the government to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine (50%), concerns that the vaccines are too new (39%) and fears of actually contracting the virus from the vaccine itself (29%).

Midgley said further education about the vaccine was necessary because was the only way people would be keen to get vaccinated.

“There is a lack of consistent, accurate messaging about the virus and vaccine. There are also so many mediums that the government could use. As an example, M4Jam could easily send updates to our 700,000 of our jobbers on our platform.”

CompariSure also conducted a survey by using in-house Chatbot technology, which had automated conversations with thousands of South Africans on Facebook Messenger.

The 2,065 participants were relatively young, with 77% being between the ages of 25 and 45.

CompariSure’s Matt Kloos said according to the survey, 50% of respondents answered “no” to a direct question on
whether they were willing to get the vaccine when it became available.

“When asked why they were unwilling to get a vaccine, 34% of users cited side-effects as their main concern.

“Other commonly stated reasons for rejecting the jab included religion (13%) and cost/price (16%), with approximately 40%  of respondents stating ‘other’, with reasons like fear of needles and government tracking being supplied,” said Kloos.

Maia Lesosky, head of the division of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of Cape Town, said it was normal for people to experience side-effects from any vaccine they received.

“Some side-effects are expected with vaccination. There have also been some people that have experienced a severe allergic reaction, but this is very rare.

“The procedures, such as asking patients to wait at the clinic for some time after injection, are meant to ensure these rare side-effects can be treated,” Lesosky said.

Dr Jo Barnes, a senior lecturer in the department of global health at University of Stellenbosch, said she encouraged people to get the vaccine as the new strain of the virus was dangerous.

“The virus is getting more dangerous since the new variants are much more infective.

“Our only hope is to vaccinate the vast majority of the population to interrupt this chain of infection, passing the virus from one person to the next at such a rapid speed,” Barnes said.

– asandam@citizen.co.za

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