5,5% of Tatarstan residents believe global COVID-19 conspiracy theory

Most Tatarstan residents fear side effects of the vaccine

57,1% of Tatarstan residents aren’t planning to receive a vaccine against coronavirus. Such data was obtained during a survey on Perception of Vaccination Campaign Against Coronavirus Infection (COVID-19) by Tatarstan Residents. PromRating Information Agency conducted it.

The online poll took place from 8 February to 9 March 2021 among Internet users from Tatarstan. 600 accidental respondents were surveyed. The data of the survey illustrates what browsers and social media are used the most and shows opinions of the most active key social media users, the authors of the research say.

• Are you planning to receive a vaccine against the coronavirus infection?
  
  This was one of the questions for the respondents. Citizens of the republic had different opinions about this. 18,6% of the respondents are contemplating it. 8,2% of the participants in the survey replied they were planning to receive a vaccine but later. 5,7% of the people have already been vaccinated. 4,2% of the population will do it soon.

• What do you personally think about ordinary vaccines?
  
  In reply to the specialists’ question, 42% of the respondents positively evaluated the vaccine. Moreover, 13,1% of the people said they rather supported it, while 12,9% said they were selective about vaccines. 12,1% of the republic’s residents had a neutral stance.

The researchers singled out “the fear of side effects of a vaccine created in a hurry” as the main reason why Russians aren’t rushing to receive a vaccine against coronavirus compared to citizens of other countries. 70,8% of the people named this variant. Neither do people believe the vaccine’s efficacy. 51,3% voted for this variant. The third most popular answer was that respondents had already recovered from the disease.

Moreover, 56,5% of people have heard about severe side effects of the vaccine against the coronavirus infection. 33,1% of the population have heard nothing about it. At the same time, around 60% of the surveyed Tatarstan residents are well informed about the way and the site where a vaccine against the coronavirus infection can be administered. Around 10% of the people don’t have an idea of how and where a vaccine could be received, while 22,3% of the respondents knew nothing about it when the survey was carried out.

People learn information about the coronavirus infection mostly via their acquaintances in the medical community. 40,2% of people trust these sources. 16,3% rest on their relatives’ opinion. 14,5% believe websites, 8,7% and 2,2% do television and functionaries they are familiar with.

Among official sources of information, Tatarstan residents trust data of the WHO, Russian and Western scientific institutions.

5,5% of the surveyed Tatarstan citizens are sure there is a global COVID-19 conspiracy theory. Another 23% of the respondents partly share these views. 58,6% of the residents of the region distrust this information.

People in general aren’t really afraid of the new disease. 14,2% evaluate the coronavirus infection as dangerous, while 8,7% consider it very dangerous. Nearly a third of the respondents think it is a moderate disease. 17,1% of the people assume the danger is very low.

“We shouldn’t fight anti-vaccination campaigners”

Nowadays 97,127 people have received a vaccine against coronavirus in Tatarstan, 1,927 of them were vaccinated over the last 24 hours. 41,477 people have received the second dose of the vaccine.

However, despite quite a high pace of vaccination, it is plenty of opponents. The brightest example is when anti-vaccination campaigners from Samara, Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad who almost foiled a meeting stormed a round-table talk on vaccination in Tatarstan’s Civic Chamber in early February. “The vaccine didn’t complete clinical trials. Our opinion is that the vaccine didn’t go through all clinical trials. Do you warn people of your region they are participating in an experiment?” claimed head of the Association of Independent Doctors Alina Lushavina then.

Doctor Valeria Orlova from Saint Petersburg, in turn, offered vice head of Russia’s consumer rights protection watchdog Avdonina to swear on the Constitution that nobody was urged to receive the vaccine. But Tatarstan Vice Premier Leyla Fazleyeva claimed in reply: “So, I am urging you to join a constructive, business talk that doesn’t contain the terms ‘swear’, ‘take an oath’, firstly. Secondly, vaccination isn’t mandatory in Russia”.

Head of the Tatarstan president’s press service Liliya Galimova also expressed her opinion about anti-vaccination campaigners: “We shouldn’t fight anti-vaccination campaigners, and anti-vaccination campaigners shouldn’t fight real life”. According to her, it is every person’s business and right to receive a vaccine or not. It is necessary to stick to positions and trust the professional scientific community in the fight against the disease. “Treatment of coronavirus should reasonably be explained, not just say ‘drink more water and eat ginger’, the speaker added.