South Africans are increasingly showing an interest in getting vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the latest Ipsos-World Economic Forum (WEF) survey.
As recently as December, SA ranked among the countries in which citizens exhibited the lowest intention to get vaccinated, with only 53% of people saying they would get a shot.
The latest survey, conducted in late February, shows that has increased to 65%.
Vaccination in SA has already begun with the first phase aimed at health workers. It is anticipated that the second phase, for essential workers, the aged and those with co-morbidities, will start sometime in April.
More than 13,500 adults under the age of 75 participated in the survey between February 25 and 28 on Ipsos’s global advisor online platform.
Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil, France, Mexico, Canada and Germany have seen the greatest uptick in vaccine intent — all rising by more than 20 percentage points in just three months.
The highest in rankings were Canada (79%), Australia (78%), Japan (74%) and Germany (74%). Then came SA and the US (65%), and France (59%).
“The trends are good, but new variants are more contagious and with vaccination intention rates as reflected in the study, we would not reach herd immunity,” said Arnaud Bernaert, head of health and health-care at the WEF.
As of Friday, total recorded coronavirus cases stood at more than 119-million worldwide, with about 2.65-million people having succumbed to the disease.
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