By Umamah Bakharia

A new study by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the Human Sciences Research Council, showed that levels of vaccine hesitancy are declining. The study says people aged 18 to 34 face more barriers to getting vaccinated than people aged 50.

This was round five of the Covid-19 Democracy Survey and was conducted between October and November last year which at that time indicated that 25% of the South African population was hesitant about taking the covid-19 vaccine.

Director for Social Change at UJ, Professor Carin Runciman, spoke to Radio Islam on the vaccination data hesitancy.

“Based on the analysis he have been doing, one positive influence has been [by] seeing other people vaccinate” that has encouraged others to vaccinate, says Professor Runciman.

According to statistics, half of the population is willing to get vaccinated but haven’t yet done so through which the study by UJ found that it is because of ‘structural barriers’ that are preventing people from going to get their jab.

“There are three key barriers: people not knowing where to go get vaccinated, its difficult for them to get to the vaccination site and that the cost of getting to a vaccination site is too high,” says Professor Runciman.

She adds: that the cost is a display of the high unemployment rates in South Africa. And advises government to look into mobile vaccination sites to increase vaccination percentages in the country.