Zorena Jantze
NEARLY all adult Namibians are worried about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their households, the country, and the future of their children, according to a telephone survey by Afrobarometer.
However, a majority of citizens have concerns about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and believe that prayer is more effective than vaccines in preventing COVID-19 infection.
Only about half say they are likely to try to get vaccinated.
The survey, conducted from last year December to February this year, is Afrobarometer’s first under its “AB Calling” telephone survey label.
With 54,659 COVID-19 cases and 817 deaths as of 1 June 2021 reported by the Namibia Statistics Agency, the country is facing its biggest health crisis since the start of the pandemic.
About 76,500 vaccine doses have been administered, according to the World Health Organisation.
Slow vaccine uptake is of great concern, with a third wave of infections looming large during this winter period.
According to the survey, about nine out of 10 adult Namibians say they are “somewhat” or “very” worried that a member of their household will become sick with COVID-19 (86%) and that the pandemic will negatively affect the country’s economy (94%), their household’s economic situation (92%), and the future well-being of Namibia’s children (94%).
Two-thirds (65%) of citizens do not trust the government to ensure that any COVID-19 vaccine that is developed or offered to Namibians is safe.
Half (50%) of Namibians say they are unlikely to try to get vaccinated even if the government says the vaccine is safe.
Close to two-thirds (63%) of Namibians believe that prayer is more effective than a vaccine would be in preventing COVID-19 infection.
The AB Calling survey reports results of Afrobarometer’s first survey using telephone rather than face-to-face interviews due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Via a quota system, the 1,200 interviews were distributed across regions and urban-rural areas in proportion to the share of each in the national population, as in a standard Afrobarometer survey.
A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
