Barbados 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 Barbados.

Demographics

The Barbados survey was conducted face-to-face with 1,080 participants, evenly spread across males and females and three age ranges. 64% said they were parents. The majority were employed, had a secondary-level education and 12% said they were unemployed because of COVID-19.

General findings

Of all six countries surveyed Barbados was the least vaccine hesitant, according to the Vaccine Hesitancy Index tool used in the study. The country scored 3.9 on this index where 1 is a perfect score, 3 is the objective score and 10 an imperfect one. 69% of respondents said they had been vaccinated.