The Covid-19 vaccine interacts with your DNA, and it actually contains the virus itself. This bizarre belief are among the most prevalent misconceptions hindering Mzansi’s vaccine rollout.
According to the latest results of the Ask Africa Covid-19 Tracker study many people are still skeptical about the coronavirus vaccine.
Although perceptions around its safety improved between February and March this year, many are still concerned about the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccinations, potentially impacting jab take-up.
The main aim of the pro-bono study, which has been conducted since April 2020, is to understand the socio-economic impact that the coronavirus, lockdown and gradual re-opening of the economy has on South Africans.
Slight increase in positive sentiment
In July 2020, more than 60% of respondents were concerned about the likelihood of Covid-19 vaccines reaching South Africa before the end of the year. Eight months later, three out of five respondents have said they will take the vaccine when it is offered to them.
This indicates a 10% increase in positive sentiment over the past month.
However, despite high levels of willingness to receive the jab, there is an almost equally high level of concern around getting vaccinated which has also risen in the last month.
Andrea Rademeyer, founder and CEO of Ask Africa, says awareness of national roll-out efforts have increased as the pandemic has continued.
However, the study found that females are more likely to distrust the safety of the vaccine and should therefore be targeted to attempt to improve trust.
“Building trust among the doubtful can be accomplished by focusing on the issues most important to them: assuring them of the safety, efficacy and thorough development of the vaccine,” says Rademeyer.
She believes health experts, doctors and nurses should be mobilised to get this message across to distrusters.
Those surveyed in the Covid-19 Tracker study strongly believe that the entire African continent should unite in the fight against the virus and that South Africa should develop its own vaccine given concerns that the USA will buy up all the experimental Covid-19 vaccine stock.
