Vaccine hesitancy in Hong Kong
elderly in Hong Kong will drop only if COVID-19 is spreading widely in the community and the likelihood of contracting the virus has massively increased (Rachel C., 2022). Therefore, the elderly’s perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 increases and the need to be vaccinated rises. This can now be seen in the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong. From 1 December 2021 to 1 January 2022, COVD-19 cases increased by 2.42%. At the same time, the number of fully vaccinated elderly aged 60-69 increased by 2.38%, aged 70-79 increased by 2.81%, aged 80 or above increased by 1.98%. However, when COVID-19 cases soared ninefold from 119K to 1.18M, nearly five to eight times the number of elderly becoming fully vaccinated between 1 December 2021 to 1 January 2022 to that between 1 March 2022 to 7 April 2022. In fact, this study also showed that the majority of unvaccinated-and-resistant respondents thought that it was nearly impossible for them to be infected with COVID-19, which is why the information of the large number of infections might encourage them to get a jab. Nonetheless, the effect might be limited because this study also discovered that a lot of unvaccinated-and-resistant respondents had high perception of susceptibility to COVID- 19 but still didn’t vaccinate. (Figure 8)
Figure 8. Percentage increase in vaccine uptake over two time periods and in COVID-19 case
2nd dose (Percentage of the population by age)
COVID-19 cases
Age
60-69
70-79
80+
1-Dec-21
61.8
43.38
16.41
12400
1-Jan-22
64.18
46.19
18.39
12700
Percentage Change
2.38%
2.81%
1.98%
2.42%
1-Mar-22
74.14
59.26
30.3
119000
7-Apr-22
84.44
73.97
46.37
1180000
Percentage Change
10.3%
14.71%
16.07%
891.60%
Limitation
First, the small sample size and short study period may lead to a less accurate conclusions. Therefore, this study investigated the temporal vaccine hesitancy during when the survey was conducted. Multiple surveys may be useful to observe the change in vaccine hesitancy among targeted samples. Secondly, health behaviour altered by the disease situation and other social environmental factors have an effect on vaccine hesitancy. The surveys were conducted at district health centres. The elderly going to these healthcare settings and completing the survey might therefore be more aware of their health and more knowledgeable about vaccines, vaccination programme, and other social science and healthcare concepts. The better understanding of vaccines and the greater awareness of their health may provoke the decision to be vaccinated. For that reason, the respondents may present lower vaccine hesitancy than the average population of their age. Moreover, respondents who went to social settings such as district health centres were usually more capable and socially active. The HBM suggested that, if a person is confident about completing a task, they might be more willing to book a vaccination and get vaccinated than the average population. Furthermore, the targeted survey samples were Chinese- speaking elderly only. The e lderly who don’t speak Chinese may have a different degree of vaccine hesitancy.
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