A survey has found that 47% residents in Tamil Nadu are hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccines, immediately.
In the survey, conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, 2,819 responses were received from people in different districts in the State. It found that though COVID-19 vaccines were now available, 47% residents were hesitant to take them immediately, and 42% said they had decided to take the vaccine. Of the 47% who were of the opinion that they would wait and then decide, 11% voted for three to six months of waiting, 21% for zero to three months, 11% for six to 12 months, and 4% said they would not take the vaccines at all, according to a press release.
Since October 2020, LocalCircles has been collecting responses from citizens to know their approach towards taking COVID-19 vaccines, to understand if the percentage of reluctance or hesitancy has increased, reduced or has remained unchanged. In the survey conducted in October, 61% citizens across the country expressed hesitancy in getting the vaccine, followed by 59% in November and 69% in December. the body decided to conduct a State-wise survey to see if public acceptance had changed.
At the national-level, the same survey, with over 17,000 responses from 230 districts, found that 62% people were hesitant about taking the vaccines, immediately. Of the 8,658 responses, 32% said they would take the vaccine and 6% said they would take it whenever the vaccines were available via private hospitals/channels.
On the primary reason for being hesitant, 59% people of the 8,782 responses pointed out to unknown side effects, while 18% voted for the vaccines’ effectiveness being unknown.
