New Delhi: More than 70 per cent Indians are confident that vaccinations are safe and effective against Covid-19 while 60 per cent consider Indian vaccines as effective as the ones manufactured abroad, a new poll has revealed.
Published Monday, the survey ‘Public Ki Awaaz’ by social media platform Public App, noted that while 72 per cent Indians considered vaccines safe, 8.8 per cent of the over 9 lakh respondents expressed clear hesitancy towards getting inoculated. Four per cent, meanwhile, expressed a strong distrust of the vaccines.
Other inquiries made in the poll revolved around the country’s ongoing vaccination rates, sources of vaccine hesitancy and confidence as well as the extent to which Indians are staying informed on the pandemic and vaccines.
One of the prominent reasons for vaccine hesitancy, according to the survey, is the risk of experiencing side-effects, with 34 per cent respondents citing it.
Other reasons mentioned by the respondents include lack of trust (20 per cent), general health concerns (14 per cent) and having never been vaccinated (11 per cent).
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Reasons behind vaccine confidence
The survey also noted that of those who expressed confidence in the vaccines’ effectiveness, 25 per cent said it stemmed from advice by healthcare professionals.
About 24 per cent referred to recommendations of friends and family as the reason for it.
Meanwhile, 59 per cent said they relied on media, including social media, as their primary source of Covid information while 15 per cent referred to government advertisements. About 13 per cent said they relied on friends and family.
Launched by news application Inshorts in January 2020, Public App is a vernacular social media platform that allows users to record and share videos as forms of local news for public consumption.
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