One-third of the population supports the immunization process or is still thinking, while every fifth respondent is already convinced of the “counter” process that is common, according to a survey conducted by the Institute of Health and Food Safety Zenica (in Bosnian: INZ) in early February.
The survey results will be used to explore communication strategies and promotional activities in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and the questions in the anonymous survey were made according to the Covid-19 Vaccination Plan of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH).
According to INZ data, out of almost 38.000 people who were informed about the survey itself, all answers were given by 1.712 people who are residents of the Zenica-Doboj Canton (ZDC).
“We aimed to assess attitudes about vaccination against Covid-19 among citizens of ZDC, to identify the main sources of information, shortcomings in the flow of information, and the most trusted sources when it comes to placing information related to existing vaccines and their effectiveness,” said Nino Hasanica, the coordinator of the Internal Crisis Staff for Health and Educational Activities of the INZ during the pandemic.
Among respondents, when asked if they would receive the Covid-19 vaccine when it became available, the most common answers were “definitely YES” – 29.2 percent and “definitely NO” – 21.1 percent. They are followed by “Probably YES” – 20.3 percent, “I’m not sure” – 16.3 percent, and “Probably NO” – 13.3 percent.
When asked on which kind of information the vaccination decision depends on, the most common answer among as many as 1.125 respondents was “That the vaccine has been in use for a longer period”, while 469 people support vaccination “If the vaccine is being used in other countries”.
Among the interesting answers in the survey is that as many as 30.4 percent of all 1.712 respondents believe that the vaccine should be mandatory, while 23.6 percent completely exclude this option.
Furthermore, almost 60 percent of respondents think or believe (completely or partially) that after vaccination they will be able to avoid at least some of the current measures (which are related to the public gatherings, group stays, protective equipment…).
As a source for obtaining reliable and verified information, respondents most often suggest health workers from the public health system (816) or health workers from family medicine (695).
Finally, when being asked about the general opinion about vaccines, for example, seasonal flu, vaccines given to children and similar, almost three-quarters (74.3 percent) of all respondents have a completely or partially positive opinion, while 10 percent of them have a negative opinion about vaccines.
When it comes to age, most of the respondents are between 18 and 30 years old (30.8 percent), 31 to 40 years old (28.5 percent), and 41-50 years old (23.7 percent), as the INZ announced.
Respondents most often mentioned a specialized education or university (51.5 percent) and a four-year high school (27.1 percent) as their education. There were 68.8 percent employed and 18.4 percent unemployed. Respondents most often mentioned a city (61 percent) or a suburban settlement (22.8 percent) as their place of residence, BHRT writes.
