Zimbabwe Christian Alliance’s survey on Covid-19 vaccine that was done by its advocacy department has caught the attention of various media houses in the country. The survey informed that most of the people interviewed proved to have little or no knowledge of the vaccine which in turn has fuelled the resistance to the vaccine. 

The Standard Newspaper, on the 14th of March had the headline, “Survey shows Zimbabweans reluctant to get Covid vaccine.

The ZCA survey was also reported in the Chronicle newspaper of 19 March. It captured that the survey had established that most people are lacking correct and adequate information on the Covid-19 vaccine.

“A SURVEY has established that most of the country’s citizens lack adequate information on the Covid-19 vaccination rollout programme.

A week ago the Centre For Innovation and technology (CITE) also reported that “ Others... are unwilling to be vaccinated due to their religious convictions, general mistrust about the vaccine and medical reasons as they suffer from chronic diseases.”

Other online publications that captured the ZCA Survey report include Pindula.co.zw, Zimbabwesituation.com and the Zimeye.net.

According to the survey, 75,1 percent of the people interviewed said they would not take the vaccine citing inadequate information about the vaccine and its possible side effects. 10.7 percent of people agreed to taking the vaccine as they had confidence in the scientific process whilst 14.2 percent were not sure if they would take the jab.

“A major finding that was captured during the survey is that a lot of people are ignorant about a plethora of issues around acquisition, administration and side effects about the vaccine. This is a cause for concern as the Covid-19 pandemic has had dire effects globally,” read the survey.

The survey was conducted on the ZCA local structure whatsapp groups, which are made up of church leaders, women and youths across the 10 provinces in the country. A total of 561 people took part in the survey.

 On one of the respondents from Hwange identified as Captain Saini T Bhidhi said social media has played a major role in influencing the decisions made by people of which might not be accurate.

“The biggest challenge I have seen is that social media has contributed so much to the dilution of information that we are getting and there are so many theories that are being shared. You will find that many times we are being vaccinated and we do not ask why but in this case people are questioning the vaccination due to the stories that are doing rounds in our social networks,” he said.

In Masvingo, Pastor Rebean Dirikwe said he would take the vaccine but on condition that he has enough information on it. He said his decision will be influenced by the level of knowledge he has on the vaccine.

“I will say yes, but with a condition if we received all the necessary information which people are demanding from the responsible authorities,” he said.

Currently, 41 687 people have been vaccinated who are frontline workers.