Most got vaxxed over restrictions; negative view on vaccines: Study
0.2% of the vaccine-mandatory population, which is exactly 973 people in the Maldives took the second booster vaccine shot.
By
Shahudha Mohamed
A study conducted by Maldives Red Crescent in collaboration with the ministry of health has revealed that most people in the Maldives were vaccinated against Covid-19 during the strictest period of the pandemic, and the number of vaxxers have fallen drastically since.
The study, which was published on Thursday, was conducted by interacting with people in five groups. These include:
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Youth
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Working age group
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Migrant workers
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Parents
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Senior citizens
The results of the study, which involved a total of 165 participants, showed:
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The reasons why 92% of study participants got vaccinated included the government's stringent regulations for travel, work, and schools
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71% of respondents indicated that the vaccine caused major side effects
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82% say misinformation about vaccines is being circulated through social media
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68% were vaccinated to reduce the risk to older or high-risk family members (pregnant women, infants and the elderly)
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67% of the respondents mentioned that it was difficult to go to get vaccinated while taking time away from school or work
Based on the findings of the study, the researchers identified the reasons for the decline in vaccination:
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People don’t believe there's much need to get vaccinated; even if you get infected, Covid doesn't do that much damage over other common colds and flus, which are worse
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Having a chance of getting infected even if you are vaccinated; even if you are confident that vaccination for diseases like Polio and Measles will give you immunity for the disease, Covid vaccine doesn't have that certainty
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In some cases, there have been cases of sudden deaths due to vaccination; some of these situations are being talked about on social media and it is believed that taking different brands of vaccine doses at different times in the Maldives can lead to damage to the body
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It's difficult to go to centres during vaccination hours or don't have enough detailed information about how to get vaccinated; people haven't tried to get that information, or the latest information isn't available at the point in time
In addition, the study found that some people believed that the harm associated with vaccination was greater than the harm caused by Covid- 19. The study also found that many people do not have much interest in getting vaccinated these days due to low confidence in the vaccine and the perception that Covid-19 is not a deadly disease.
According to the research report, there has been an increase in the expression of 'anti-vax' views against vaccination in the country, just like the rest of the world. "This could lead to confusion among the public at a time when misinformation is easily disseminated through social media and undermine confidence in health experts," the report said.
Data released late last year also showed that there has been a sharp decline in the number of people getting vaccinated in the Maldives. Thus, according to the information released at the time:
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First dose – 399,025 (88.12% of the eligible population)
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Second dose – 384,787 (84.97% of the eligible population)
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First booster dose – 166,064 (36.63% of the eligible population)
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Second booster dose – 973 (0.2% of the eligible population)
