Covid-19 Boosters: Why time is not enough to get people to line up for their next shot
DATE: 24 February 2022
AUTHOR: Mail & Guardian
According to health department data, 18.93% people vaccinated with Pfizer’s Covid vaccine don’t return for their second dose within 42 days. People between 50 and 59 years do the best with getting their second jabs in time (only 7.7% don’t go back within 42 days) and those between 18 and 34 years the worst (30.12% don’t get their second shots within the required period).
The health department has been sending out SMS reminders to people to get vaccinated but this was interrupted for a few months between December and February because of budgetary constraints (the SMSes cost the department 16c per message) Crisp says.
However, the country’s most recent vaccine hesitancy survey, published in February and conducted by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the Human Sciences Research Council, shows that SMSes may not be enough. It found that the biggest reason why people in South Africa who want to get vaccinated against Covid-19, but don’t do so, is because they don’t know where to go.
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