Women and elderly more likely to be vaccine-hesitant, says study

Women and the elderly are more likely to be vaccinehesitant according to a study on Tuesday January 13 which analysed data from more than 11 million peopleThe study published in The Lancet analysed hesitancy based on Covid19 vaccine uptake and found that hesitancy against vaccines was rooted in concerns about their efficacy While it reduced over time it persists in some peopleThe researchers from Imperial College London UK found that the likelihood of remaining unvaccinated was higher for older people women people who were unemployed or living in deprived areas those with a history of Covid and people with a lower level of educationThey identified eight categories of vaccine hesitancy including concerns about effectiveness and side effects perception of low risk from Covid and mistrust of vaccine developers and fear of vaccines and reactionsMen were more likely than women to report not feeling Covid was a personal risk 18 per cent vs 10 per cent Women were also more likely to be worried about fertilityrelated consequences 21 per cent vs 8 per cent while those aged 74 years or older were more likely to be against vaccines in general compared with 18ndash24yearolds 12 per cent vs 25 per centMore than 40 per cent also reported concerns around longterm health effects 39 per cent that they wanted to wait to see whether the vaccine worked and 37 per cent that they had concerns about side effectsWe show that certain types of vaccine hesitancy are more readily addressed than others for example concerns relating to pregnancy or breastfeedingrdquo said coauthor Professor Helen Ward from Imperial CollegeOur study suggests that as the vaccine was rolled out public confidence increased and the original vaccine scepticism was largely overcome Ward addedThe study followed more than 11 million people in England between January 2021 and March 2022 during the Covid pandemicOverall 33 per cent of participants reported some degree of Covid vaccine hesitancy Hesitancy rates declined over time from an initial high of 8 per cent of those surveyed in January 2021 to a low of 11 per cent at the start of 2022There was a small uptick in hesitancy to over 22 per cent in February and March 2022 during the Omicron waveThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever