Image: Andrew Shiva [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Lack of transport and information contribute to “widespread hesitancy”
A study has mapped barriers leading to “widespread hesitancy” to Covid-19 vaccinations in an impoverished informal settlement south of Johannesburg. The study authors say these challenges need addressing to save lives.
Kate Alexander, South African Research Chair in social change at the University of Johannesburg, and Bongani Xezwi, a local researcher, set out to gauge vaccine rollout in Protea South, one of Johannesburg’s informal settlements. Xezwi lived in the area from 17 to 31 May and interacted with community activists to monitor the vaccine roll-out even as the Gauteng province entered its third wave of infections.
The initial findings were released on d18 June. Transport was found to be a key vaccination deterrent in the area. Alexander and Xezwi found that many people could not afford transport to vaccination sites. “Unless transport is provided many will be left unvaccinated, even though they want to be safe, and some will doubtless die as a consequence,” they warn.
They also found that the community felt left out of information campaigns. “[The community] did not understand ‘waves’ and were angry about their exclusion from education around the vaccine,” the researchers write.
‘A technocratic solution to a social problem’
Alexander and Xezwi argue that local youth could be recruited to increase education and registration and that transport costs should be paid to those who cannot afford it.
The pair also criticise the country’s Electronic Vaccination Data System, on which citizens must register before they can be vaccinated, “as a technocratic solution to a social problem”.
There have been numerous reports in recent weeks that vaccination centres are underutilised during the current phase, which allows citizens older than 60 to get the jab. The government has been criticised for its slow vaccination roll-out.
“The EVDS has been chaotically administered, government communication has been chronically weak, and there are not enough vaccination sites and staff,” the pair say.
The project will be expanded to other parts of the country in the coming weeks.