There are four distinct groups of unvaccinated individuals in South Africa, according to the preliminary results of the survey conducted by the Southern Africa Labour Development Research Unit’s (SALDRU) first Covid-19 Vaccine Survey (CVACS).
The team of researchers released the preliminary findings of CVACS 1 virtually last month. Delegates from provincial and national department of health and officials from the national vaccine demand task team attended the event. Additional data collection for survey 1 is still underway and will be released this month.
Vaccination overview
According to the latest update, just under 20 million citizens (32.3%) have received at least one dose of the vaccine while only around 16 million (27.1%) South Africans are fully vaccinated. Experts warn that unvaccinated citizens pose serious health risks as they create fertile ground for the virus to mutate and multiply.
The four groups revealed by the survey are:
- The “as soon as possible” (ASAP) group – this group of people indicated that if vaccinations are made easy and brought to the people, they will get vaccinated.
- The “wait and see” group – this group of people are generally fearful about the consequences of vaccines and require salient examples of how many others out there were like them but have been vaccinated.
- The “only if required” group – this group of people don’t see the benefits of vaccines but are unlikely to push back against mandatory vaccinations.
- The “definitely not group” – this group of people believe that vaccines will harm or kill them. Therefore, interventions are necessary to curb the spread of misinformation.
SALDRU is a research unit based in the school of economics at the University of Cape Town. It conducts applied empirical research and capacity building with specific focus on poverty and inequality, labour markets, human capital and social policy. The purpose of the survey was to, among others,
- provide high quality information on the barriers and facilitators regarding vaccine uptake in South Africa
- provide answers to the most pressing policy-relevant questions to support vaccine demand creation strategies and
- understand who is not getting vaccinated and why.
Furthermore, the survey also aims to test the impact of different vaccine messages and rapidly share results and data. Dr Brendan Maughan-Brown, the CVACS team leader said the initiative was designed through collective process involving policy-makers and programme implementers. He expressed hope that the data would help strengthen the country’s inoculation campaigns to increase Covid-19 vaccine coverage.
General data
For the first part of survey one, said Dr Maughan-Brown, researchers conducted interviews with 1 940 respondents across the country’s nine provinces. Approximately, 34% indicated that they will get vaccinated as soon as possible, 21% said they will wait and see, 15% said they will only get vaccinated if required, and 25% will definitely not get vaccinated. He said in terms of the ages of the participants, the research has revealed that roughly 800 respondents were in the 18–34 age group, close to 600 were in the 35–49 age groups, 300 were in the 50–59 age groups, and 200 were older than 60 years old.
During the interviews, about 57% of respondents indicated that they had earned a wage in the past week; 63% had completed matric; and 71% highlighted that they don’t have medical insurance. A further 52% said they knew someone who got very sick or died as a result of Covid-19 complications, 84% contracted Covid-19 in the past, and 57% of respondents revealed that not a single member of their household is vaccinated.
ASAP
Other noteworthy findings are that close to 50% of participants in the ASAP category said they don’t have the time to visit a vaccine site to receive their vaccines; more than 20% of respondents said vaccination sites are too far away; more than 50% are concerned about the vaccines’ side-effects; close to 40% don’t trust the safety of vaccines; and almost 30% of participants believe the vaccine could kill them.
To increase vaccine uptake, interviewers asked the ASAP respondents if they would consider receiving their vaccines in the next week if a trained healthcare worker administered it in the comfort of their own home or place of work – about 70% of participants said they would. Further, 60% of respondents said they would be motivated to receive their vaccines if they were issued with R100 vouchers afterwards. More than 80% of participants said they would get vaccinated if vaccination sites remained open after 17:00 during the week and on weekends.
Wait and see
Similarly, more than 70% of respondents in the “wait and see” category were concerned about the vaccines’ side-effects; more than 60% said they don’t trust the safety of vaccines; and 40% believe the vaccine will kill them.
Close to 30% of respondents in this category also indicated that they would consider receiving their vaccines in the next week if a trained healthcare worker administered it in their own home or place of work; and 20% of respondents said they would get their vaccines if they were issued with R100 vouchers afterwards. Almost 70% said they would get vaccinated if vaccination sites were open after 17:00 during the week and 60% would go if sites were open on weekends.
Messaging
The research also highlighted the point that messaging plays a fundamental role in motivating South Africans to receive their vaccines. After consultations with respondents, researchers learned that communicating that vaccines are far-reaching and that millions of South Africans have already received their inoculations is critical. In addition, promoting the safety of the vaccines and also that they are free could encourage South Africans to increase the uptake of the vaccination.
