78pc of people in AU countries willing to get vaccinated: report

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 21 – As the Omicron variant dominates the COVID-19 news cycle, new research from the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC) indicates that people in African Union (AU) Member States are overwhelmingly willing to get vaccinated.

Across 19 countries, 78 per cent of people surveyed by PERC indicated that they had been or were willing to get vaccinated.

Even so, official data shows that as of November 2021, less than 7 per cent of the African continent had been vaccinated.

The PERC report released in November considers why global vaccination efforts have been plagued by inequity, as well as the logistical challenges to vaccinating the African continent.

The report further outlines the continued importance of preventive measures, particularly individual measures such as masking and social distancing, that minimize the social or economic harm that can occur when mobility, economic and social gathering restrictions are imposed.

“We must work urgently toward equitable access to safe and effective vaccines on the African continent,” said Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

At 78 per cent, vaccine acceptance was higher than in the previous PERC survey fielded earlier this year (67 per cent), which may indicate the success of risk communication campaigns.

In five surveyed countries — Guinea, Morocco, Mozambique, Tunisia and Zimbabwe — acceptance was 90 per cent or higher.

Vaccine acceptance was high among both those who trusted their government’s pandemic response and those who felt COVID-19 posed a personal risk to them or to their country.

Among the 20 per cent of respondents who expressed vaccine hesitancy, the top reasons were: low risk perception (24 per cent), not having enough information about vaccines (22 per cent) and lack of trust in government (17 per cent.

Respondents’ top information sources included local health centers, television and radio.

“Offering more and better information to people about Covid-19 and vaccines through trusted sources, particularly health care providers, coupled with consistent and reliable vaccine supply, can further increase acceptance,” the report notes.