Saint Lucia Country Report - COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Survey 2021

Vaccination has emerged as the best possible tool to stem the tide of a pandemic which is having a profoundly negative impact on children and their families.

UNICEF and USAID commissioned Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (CADRES) to conduct a survey on vaccine hesitancy across six countries: Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. The study was carried out in October and November 2021 and explores the extent of, and reasons for, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and if anything can be done to change the minds of those reluctant to take the vaccines.

These are the findings for St. Lucia.

Demographics

The St. Lucia survey was conducted face-to-face with 800 participants, evenly spread across males and females and three age ranges. 54% said they were parents. The majority were employed, had a secondary-level education and 11% reported being unemployed because of COVID-19.

General findings

55% of respondents in St. Lucia said they had been vaccinated. Of the six countries surveyed St. Lucia is one of the most vaccine hesitant (second only to St. Vincent and the Grenadines) according to the Vaccine Hesitancy Index tool used in this study. The country scored 5.1 on this index where 1 is a perfect score, 3 is the objective score and 10 an imperfect one.