Dear Editor,

Religious people are more in favour of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine than the non-religious Jamaican population, according to findings of a recent study conducted by Northern Caribbean University (NCU) researchers.

The study, which looked at COVID-19 Vaccination Status among Religious and Non-religious Jamaicans, found that nearly 75 per cent of unvaccinated people were from among the non-religious population, while nearly 50 per cent of unvaccinated people identified as religious.

Half of 1,111 people sampled indicated that their religion was not against adherents receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Only a little over 11 per cent of the respondents said their religion objected to COVID-19 vaccination, while 38.3 per cent were uncertain.

Among the religious community, more than half were vaccine-hesitant, tending towards the younger age groups 18-26 (54 per cent) and 27-37 (51.2 per cent). Almost a third of elderly religious respondents were anti-vaccination.

Furthermore, among the faith community, Christians were the least resistant (46 per cent) to receiving the vaccine. Other religious groups showed higher levels of hesitation — Judaism (100 per cent), Hindi (88 per cent), Islam (86 per cent), and Rastafari (86 per cent).

The NCU study suggests that Christians and females are the most likely to be vaccinated among the Jamaican population.

Despite the comparably favourable attitude among the religious community towards vaccination, there is still a high level (52 per cent) of vaccine hesitancy among the Jamaican population.

Paul Bourne, Interim Director of Institutional Research

Byron Buckley, Director Corporate Communication

byron.buckley@ncu.edu.jm