Research snapshot: attitudes to COVID vaccines


In the early stages of the pandemic, NSA asked what seniors were thinking about vaccination.

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In February 2021, the first phase of the national COVID-19 vaccination strategy was rolled out in Australia. 

In response, National Seniors undertook research that month to find out what older people were thinking and feeling about the new vaccines and getting vaccinated. 

One project utilised our community outreach program into new and emerging, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.  

It revealed that information availability, and access to misinformation, varied considerably from one community to the next.  

The other project placed a question about vaccination likelihood into our National Seniors Social Survey. 

While 86% of respondents said they were likely to get vaccinated, people also expressed concerns about potential adverse reactions, long-term effects, vaccine ineffectiveness, and more.

Sharing our results with the Commonwealth Department of Health, we recommended authorities develop more effective communication strategies, systems, and infrastructure to address seniors’ experiences and concerns. 

This included making reliable, current information available to community leaders in all community languages. There was a high demand for this but a surprising lack of it for some communities. 

These recommendations also shaped that way we helped older Australians via our own COVID services. Through them, we made a difference to thousands of uncertain and vulnerable older people. 

To find out more, read the full reports New & Emerging CALD Communities’ COVID-19 Vaccine Sentiments & Fears and Older Australians’ COVID-19 vaccination likelihood and sentiment at nationalseniors.com.au/research/reports.

Authors

Diane Hosking, PhD

Diane Hosking, PhD

Head of Research, National Seniors Australia Canberra.

Lindy Orthia, PhD

Lindy Orthia, PhD

Senior Research Officer, National Seniors Australia Canberra

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