A nation-wide survey found that the percentage of citizens willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine immediately has increased from 31% to 42% in a month, and 39% of those who were hesitant were willing to get vaccinated if senior government leaders and elected representatives got inoculated.
The survey, which was conducted by the community social media platform LocalCircles, received 25,000 responses from residents of 289 districts. It found that vaccine hesitancy in India dropped by 16% within a month, though 58% still remained hesitant even as close to 5 million healthcare workers were vaccinated.
The percentage of citizens willing to take the vaccine rose from 31% in the first week to 38% at the end of the second week and 40% in the third week of January to 42% this week, a press release said.
It asked the respondents if they would take the vaccines if senior leaders of the Centre and State governments, along with the Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly, take the jab. To this, 39% said the move would encourage them to take the vaccine immediately.
Another finding was that only 13% citizens said they had access to data related to vaccination centres, daily vaccinations and adverse events in their district, while 62% did not have it and would like to get access to such data.
