St. Vincent and the Grenadines Country Report - COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Survey Report 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. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Demographics

This country survey was the only one not conducted face-to-face across the six countries due to extreme challenges with COVID-19 which made in-person interaction very difficult. 800 participants were surveyed, evenly spread across males and females and three age ranges. 61% said they

were parents. Most were employed, had a secondary-level education and 13% reported being unemployed because of COVID-19.

 

General findings

58% of respondents said they had been vaccinated. Of the six countries surveyed St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the most vaccine hesitant according to the Vaccine Hesitancy Index tool used in this study. The country scored 5.4 on this index where 1 is a perfect score,

3 is the objective score and 10 an imperfect one.