Photo: Unsplash
Photo: Unsplash
Time to drop down a rabbit hole? Go on then: Research from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) has explored South Africa’s relationship with vaccine hesitancy further this week – and it turns up some disturbing COVID-19 theories.
Just under one in five South Africans are convinced they won’t get a vaccine for COVID-19. Some cite safety fears, others believe testing has been rushed. Neither concern is particularly valid when weighed up against the threat of the virus, but it doesn’t take long before these beliefs provide a gateway to some more bizarre propositions.
NIDS, meanwhile, revealed that one in ten cases of vaccine hesitancy was linked to ‘general distrust’:
“In most cases, we found that respondents cited safety concerns without providing more concrete information about the rationale for such fears. One-tenth cited specific or general distrust as the reason for their concerns.”
You’ve heard the quips by now. People get their jabs, post on social media, and say they’ve been ‘microchipped’, with some claiming to have ‘great 5G reception’. If you don’t get the reference, it’s fine, you’re really not missing out on anything. But you *might* be surprised by how many of our fellow citizens are invested in conspiracy theories.