A Comparative Analysis of The Behavior of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Jamaicans Against the Covid-19 Virus

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world on a global scale. In order to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus disease, manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines has become a focal point. Vaccination hesitancy is one of the significant obstacles to global health. This study seeks to examine the perception of those vaccinated and unvaccinated against Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Jamaica. A quantitative survey research was designed to collect data from Jamaicans across the 14 parishes of Jamaica. Non-probability sampling was used to obtain the data from 1073 respondents. A standardized survey was created in Google forms to collect the data (web-based) in the form of a questionnaire containing fifteen (15) closed-ended questions. The data was converted from Google Forms using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows, Version 25.0, with 95% confidence interval. The survey was distributed face to face, and via various social media platforms in all 14 parishes of Jamaica. Using a population size of 2,727,503 as of 2018, a confidence interval of 95%, and a margin of error of 3% the sample size was determined to be 1073. Findings revealed that, the majority of the respondents were female (55.9%, n=600), while the minority were males (44.1%, n=473). The majority of respondents (20.0%, n=215) were from Kingston and St. Andrew, and 15.1% of the respondents from St. Catherine. This study has shown that Jamaicans are indecisive when it comes to taking the COVID-19 vaccination.