Tamil Nadu government’s Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH) on Sunday said that 80.3 per cent of males and 81.6 per cent of females in the state are not ready for vaccination.
This was based on a vaccine hesitancy survey conducted by the Directorate of Public Health in all districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, during July. The survey was conducted under the guidance of Dr TS Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health.
“Vaccine hesitancy was observed in 19.7 percent and 18.4 percent of men and women, respectively. The difference between genders was not statistically significant,” the survey found.
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The survey was conducted in 95 randomly selected clusters in the state comprising 30 random households in each cluster. The houses were physically visited and one family member was selected from each household by a random method. After confirming his vaccination status, he was interviewed to understand his perception towards the COVID-19 vaccine.
“When the place of residence was taken into account, 82.5 per cent people living in urban area and 79.7 per cent in rural area were willing to get vaccinated. Vaccine hesitation was present in 17.5 per cent and 20.3 per cent of rural residents, respectively,” the survey said. The survey also found that vaccine hesitancy was highest among people over the age of 60, at 27.6 percent, compared with 16.9 percent of those aged 18-44 and 18.2 percent of those aged 45-60 years of age. Were were get the vaccine.
“The Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine will focus on awareness activities to dispel misconceptions about the prevalent COVID-19 vaccine among the population. Special attention will be given to those above 60 because of the high rate of reluctance,” the result concluded.
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