September 27, 2021
Data in for vax doubters
The more people get vaccinated against Covid-19, the more resistant the few remaining seem to be.
A new Talbot Mills Research poll found just over a third of those reluctant to get the jab says they were concerned about side effects, or had “heard bad things”.
Fifteen percent said it was developed too quickly, 15 percent said they were straight-out anti-vax, and 15 percent said they were too lazy.
Epidemiologist Anthony Jordan, who is heading the northern regional vaccine rollout, says getting information to those people – or encouraging those who they know to spread the message – is now a major focus of the work.
He says Covid vaccines have now been given to billions of people worldwide, including pregnant women, and the effects are well-studied.
“That data tells us these people are not seeing anything unexpected or untoward and for those people who are waiting for more data, the data is in. People just need to know what they are reading and make the judgment call this is robust information they have to deal with,” Dr Johnson says.
Another five vaccination buses will be handed over to community partners this week, and the service is also looking at more places it can do surveillance testing in suburbs of interest like Clover Park, Māngere and Mount Wellington.