Jamaicans’ Views on Trust, COVID-19 Vaccination, COVID-19 Campaign, Matters on the Vaccines, and the role of distrust in vaccine hesitancy

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine whether trust influences the COVID-19 vaccination choice of Jamaicans. The specific objectives were:to find out the role of the government to the citizens on the issue of vaccination, to determine the respondent’s preferences on the choice of vaccine, and to determine the level of trust among the respondents. A quantitative research design was used to gather data among 1071 respondentsaged 18 years and older sampled from a population of 2,734,092 Jamaicans. Data collection was done using a standardized web-based survey. A convenient sampling procedure was used. The Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze and interpret the data. Of the sampled respondents, 19.7% indicated that they trust the Jamaican Government, 20.3% stated that the government has Jamaicans best interest at heart, 51.5% believedthat vaccination Campaign is educating and encouraging, 61.4% stated vaccinate Campaign is forceful, and 33.5% believed that the government listens to people’s concerns, and 53.2% trust other people. Of the 53.2% of respondents who have taken at least a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 5.04% had low trust;11.39%had moderate trust; 27.17% had high and 9.62%had very high trust. The majority of the respondents (51.8%) believe there is no harmful agenda behind promoting the COVID-19 vaccines. Furthermore, 73.9% of those who indicated that they trust the government have been vaccinated compared to 41.3% of those who do not trust the government (?²(2) = 60.639; P<0.001). Based on the findings presented from this research, it can be concluded that distrust in the government as well as for other people is adversely influencing the COVID-19 vaccination of Jamaicans.