Age Concern Survey: Willing To Take Vaccine
According to an unscientific survey conducted via mailing lists and social media by Age Concern, 38% of people would be “extremely willing to take the vaccine as soon as it arrives” and 27.6% “are willing to take the vaccination, although only after they see others safely take it first.”
A spokesperson said, “Age Concern, through their mailing list and social media channels, including their Facebook and Twitter pages, recently conducted an island-wide survey on the acceptance of the upcoming Covid-19 vaccination. Results offer reasons for optimism, showing that a majority of Bermudians plan to receive the vaccine either upon arrival, or shortly thereafter.
“The survey took place between Thursday, December 10th and Sunday, December 13th with the aim of understanding the views, perceptions and concerns of the public in regard to the Covid-19 vaccination.
“The survey collected responses from more than 1,150 people across the island, with a plurality of respondents, 38%, stating that they are extremely willing to take the vaccine as soon as it arrives to Bermuda. The second largest response, at 27.6%, are of those that are willing to take the vaccination, although only after they see others safely take it first.
“However, 17.5% of respondents state that they will not be taking the vaccine, with an additional 10.2% stating that they do not plan on taking the vaccine, but are open to changing their mind and 9.8% stating that they have not yet made a decision.
“A common concern amongst those unwilling, or wary of taking the vaccine is that they feel that it has been rushed in an effort to move the world past the Covid-19 pandemic, with other respondents being concerned that those with other health ailments and/or allergies, as well as those with other medications, may be particularly vulnerable to receiving ill effects. Others state that they will rely on instructions from their medical professionals on whether to take this vaccine or not.
“These survey results show hope that our island will soon be able to move past this pandemic once and for all. We at Age Concern are excited about this news, as this will go a long way to relieving some of the strain, both medically and economically, of our more vulnerable older adults.” Dr. Claudette Fleming – Age Concern Executive Director.
“According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, Bermuda currently has 184 active cases of Covid-19, with two cases resulting in hospitalization. As stated by Health Minister Kim Wilson JP MP, 9,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are scheduled to arrive in the first week in January 2021.
“For help navigating the available information on the Covid-19 vaccination, give Age Concern a call at 238-7525 or email info@ageconcern.bm.”
Speaking in Parliament on Friday, Health Minister Kim Wilson said that “Bermuda will be supplied with 9,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and they will arrive on our shores in the first week of January 2021.”
As the island and world deals with the Covid-19 pandemic, we are doing our best to provide timely and accurate information, and you can find more information on the links below.
- All: Our coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic here
- Official: The Bermuda Government website here
- World Stats: Live graph of all cases worldwide here
- Bermuda Stats: Chart of the Bermuda stats here
- Timeline: Visual look at the timeline here
- Comprehensive: Our BermudaCovid.com website here
- Live Updates: Continuous updates of the latest news here.
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It is deeply problematic that 65% of respondents have some level of wariness/reluctance around the vaccine. Albeit encouraging that over 80% may be willing to ultimately take the vaccine. (Great news for our most vulnerable who are physically unable to take a vaccine)
Governments around the world have a huge job on their hands to overcome all the disinformation around the vaccine (and vaccines in general).
The fact is that the scientific testing process has not been rushed at all. It has been carried out in the normal way using all of the same requirements. All that has been done is the downtime between the steps has been streamlined to cut out all the garbage time in between, this is why it has been done so quickly.
So all of this wariness is really around the reduction of red tape and who can honestly say they are against that??