Various reasons for low turnout of over 60s at Covid-19 vaccine sites

A lack of transport to vaccination sites, insufficient education on vaccines and vaccine hesitancy could be contributing to the low rate of over 60s receiving the jab, with less than 2 million vaccinated in the second phase, experts said.

The national health department announced last week it was concerned the low turn-out of those aged over 60 for Covid-19 vaccinations, with less than 2 million having received the jab out of the targeted 5.5 million people.

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Carol Stanton, 64, said she was not interested in getting vaccinated since she does not even get the annual flu injection. This was because she was scared of needles, she told The Citizen.

“The flu injection that you can take every winter, I don’t take it. Why must I take this injection if I don’t take the flu injection? I am afraid of needles. I don’t take injections at all. Maybe I would take the vaccine if it came in a pill,” she said.

“I am very careful. I don’t go to the shops if it’s not necessary. I get all my stuff and come back then I stay at my home, sanitise and wash my hands and keep the house clean. I am not looking for the virus,” she said.

But for Mpho Kgosana, a 70-year-old grandmother who lives alone in Hammanskraal, she has no transport to her nearest vaccination site which is less than 10km away.

Kgosana said she had successfully registered and received a text message but was not in a good condition to catch a taxi to the vaccination site.

“I have issues with my legs and I can’t even lift my leg high enough to climb into a taxi. I registered for the vaccine and received a confirmation SMS. I also received another SMS saying I can go there any time. But no one is able to take me,” she said.

Research by the Human Sciences Research Council earlier this year found a link between education, race, age and political affiliation when it came to reasons for accepting or denying the vaccine.

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Head of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine study and president of the South African Medical Research Council, Professor Glenda Gray, suggests that the government finds innovative ways to target is age group.

“They should vaccinate in mobile units, register and vaccinate in pension [grant] queues and set up sites in communities that make it easies to access vaccines. They need to address vaccine hesitancy and access to registration centres.

“I think there is vaccine hesitancy but until there is adequate access, it is hard to assess whether it is [an issue of] access or hesitancy. There needs to be education campaigns as well as a delicate balance between demand and supply issues,” she said.

Vaccine hesitancy, according to the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation, is a “delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services”.

While vaccine hesitancy does not seem to be a major problem in South Africa when compared to issues of procurement and distribution, it was still an obstacle to overcome, said Helen Suzman Foundation legal researcher Sophie Smit.

While less than 2 million of the targeted 5.5 million people have been vaccinated, it is not clear which percentage of those remaining are attributed to hesitancy or due to lack of access to registration, she said.

“With 67% of South African being willing to take the jab, vaccine hesitancy does not seem to threaten herd immunity at this point,” she said.

rorisangk@citizen.co.za