As India struggles through the second wave of Covid-19, vaccination of as many Indians in the shortest possible time seems to be the only solution to defeat the virus. Many experts and commentators have articulated the need to focus on just one statistic daily — the percentage of Indians being vaccinated.
In this regard, the government has announced that all Indians above the age of 18 will be eligible to take the vaccine from 1 May. It is then critical to know if most Indians are aware of their eligibility to take the vaccine and if the majority of them are willing to be vaccinated.
This is what Prashnam tried finding out this week. We ran an all India survey covering eight major states and asked two specific questions.
- Who do you think will be eligible to take the Covid vaccine?
a: Only health workers and other essential services people
b: All above the age of 45
c: All above the age of 18
d: Don’t know
- If Covid vaccine is available to you, will you take it?
a: Yes
b: No
c: Don’t know
Respondent profile: 2,247 adult Indians responded to this survey. They were from eight states — Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh; and 284 districts. 67 per cent were male and 33 per cent female. 60 per cent were youth (<40 years), 29 per cent middle aged and 11 per cent seniors (>60). All India number is calculated based on population weighted average of these 8 states surveyed.
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Not aware of vaccine eligibility
70% of people are not aware that all Indians above the age of 18 will be eligible to take the Covid vaccine from 1 May. It is surprising that despite media headlines about the new vaccination policy in the past week, a significant majority of people surveyed did not know that those above the age of 18 will be eligible for vaccination. Or perhaps it is not a surprise, given the size and diversity of our nation?
But the overall number masks important differences across states. Expectedly, the awareness was much higher in the more developed southern state of Kerala – nearly 60 per cent of those surveyed in Kerala were aware that people above 18 will be eligible for the vaccine. Surprisingly, only 25 per cent of people in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra were aware about vaccine eligibility.
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Majority willing to take Covid vaccine
When asked about willingness to take the vaccine, a significant 60 per cent of people were willing. In the Hindi states, 55 per cent are willing to take Covid vaccine. 66 per cent of Gujaratis, 73 per cent of Maharashtrians and 76 per cent of Keralites are willing.
Surprisingly, vaccine scepticism seems to be high in Tamil Nadu where only 44 per cent of people said they will take the vaccine, the lowest in our survey.
From this survey, it seems that raising awareness levels of vaccine eligibility is key to taming the virus. The good news is that vaccine scepticism is low and most people are willing to be inoculated.
As a matter of rigour and transparency, we have made available the entire raw data of this survey for interested people to verify, test and validate.
Rajesh Jain is founder, Prashnam, an AI technology start-up that aims to make opinion gathering more scientific, easy, fast, and affordable. Views are personal.
The article is part of ThePrint-Prashnam Vox Pop series.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)