Non-vaccinated respondents of a Vaccination Perception Survey held late last year have very strong opinion about the Covid-19 vaccine, and nothing can alter their decision.
This was the major finding of the survey carried out in November 2022 by the Red Cross Society of Seychelles (RCSS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, to find out why people decided to vaccinate or not.
The questionnaires had been adapted from one developed by Unicef for Caribbean countries and was designed for vaccinated and non-vaccinated people.
The survey’s consultant, Brigitte Labonte, said they were first tested among the RCSS volunteers to measure the communication level before being taken out in the field.
Altogether 195 respondents, including both vaccinated and non-vaccinated persons, took part in the 15-question survey.
Last weekend the results were presented to staff and volunteers of the National Society for validation at the RCSS’ headquarters at Providence.
Out of the total, 88 were male and 106 were female, with the majority aged between 17 and 50 years.
110 of them were vaccinated which represents 56.4 percent and 85 were unvaccinated, representing 43.5 percent.
According to the findings, 136 people were parents and the majority, 68.7 percent were from the community, 17.9 percent were from the workplace and 8.2 percent were from post-secondary institutions. 67 percent of vaccinated respondents were parents and 73 percent were non-vaccinated parents.
It should be noted that most vaccinated and non-vaccinated respondents resided in the district of Anse Royale and Grand Anse Praslin.
According to Mrs Labonte, their main focus was the non-vaccinated respondents and the major finding was that they had a strong opinion about the Covid-19 vaccine, especially those who had done their own research.
“For example one thing they said was that even if the government imposes travel restrictions or closes down entertainment facilities, they would still stick to their decision not to be vaccinated. Even if a prominent figure is invited to talk to them, they would still not listen. This came out very strongly,” said Mrs Labonte.
The validation workshop highlighted that the Ministry of Health would have to find ways to influence the respondents’ views because contrary to other popular established vaccines like polio and measles, which had 99 percent coverage, Covid-19 had a lower participatory level.
She said the findings will now allow the ministry to see what influences a person to get vaccinated and the ideal method for communication.
“What came out was that people gained information mostly through television. Information through leaflet and posters, did not work. The majority of respondents also said they received information through health centres, so this is also a form of dissemination, since most people took their vaccines in those places,” added Mrs Labonte.
According to RCSSS, although it took into account age, gender, occupation, the survey did not do an in-depth analysis about why some people decided not to get vaccinated.
Mrs Labonte said this could be taken up in a future survey.
The perception survey report will later be presented to the Ministry of Health.
Source: Seychelles Nation