Side-effects listed as main concern for vaccine hesitancy
With just 32.5 percent of South Africa's adult population fully vaccinated against Covid-19, experts say hesitancy is one of the stumbling blocks towards government's targets.
The Health Department aims to vaccinate 70% of over 60s and around to thirds of over 50s by the end of the year.
But uptake has slowed down.
Professor Hannelie Meyer from the National Immunisation Safety Expert Committee says the low numbers can be attributed to many reasons, including concerns about side-effects.
"All the surveys point this out as the very first reason why people do not want to get vaccinated. People are worried, they are scared, they hear stories and so on.
"Quite a number of them also say I plan to wait, I want to see what's going to happen and that is not a good thing to do. So with all these unanswered questions that people have, they create a lot of uncertainty, confusion and fear."
She was speaking at a webinar hosted by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) and the Department of Health aimed at mitigating Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in South Africa.
Professor Meyer has dispelled some of the myths about what is contained in the jabs.
"All of those things are not true. There are no human tissue, no animal tissue, no pork products, no allergens, no antibiotics, no egg, no mercury, no aluminium, no preservatives. None of these things are included in the vaccine."
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