COVID-19 vaccination in Gauteng

Introduction

The Quality of Life 7 (2023/24) survey allowed for an assessment of the COVID-19 vaccination uptake during the pandemic because questions were introduced in this round of the survey regarding respondents' SARS-CoV-2 vaccination status, and their perspectives on vaccines. The September 2024 map of the month summarises respondents' vaccination experiences, COVID-19 vaccination status and their views on the COVID-19 vaccines and allows readers to explore these data at ward level in Gauteng.

Spatial variation

We mapped respondents’ vaccination status in each ward in Gauteng to explore spatial trends in vaccination (Figure 1). This section will reflect on a few noticeable trends and other outputs will delve more into the data (Els, Naidoo and Maree Forthcoming).

Figure 1: COVID-19 vaccination in Gauteng

Many wards had very high reported vaccination rates. The highest levels of vaccination were either in older, more well-established suburbs, areas of high income, or mining areas.

Mining areas, such as Carletonville (100%), West Driefontein Mine (99.7%), and East Driefontein Mine (99.7%) were among the top five most vaccinated wards. Most mines set up outbreak prevention measures and vaccination campaigns during the pandemic, which increased vaccine coverage in these areas (World Health Organization African region, 2022). Additionally, more well-off areas across Gauteng such as Parkhurst (100%), Glenvista (98.2%), Glenhazel (98%), Ruimsig (97.4%), and Garsfontein (91.8%) were among the top 15 vaccinated wards (Table 1). All of the wards in the top 15 were spread across Gauteng in older, more established areas.

The lowest levels of vaccination (shown in the cream colour in Figure 1) are spread over Gauteng but were more frequent in peripheral township areas and informal areas. This included areas such as Sebokeng, Mamelodi, Hammanskraal, and Brakpan. Interestingly, other centrally located areas have low vaccination rates like Rivonia, the Pretoria CBD, and north central Pretoria. Only 19% of respondents from Pretoria CBD were vaccinated.

Table 1: Wards with the highest vaccination rates

Spatial variation of reasons for getting vaccinated

Exploring the data at a ward level allows users to see overall trends as well as compare wards and regions to each other. The interactive map below (Figure 2) allows you to explore at a ward level the reasons for vaccinating against COVID-19. If you are unsure where your ward is you can use Wazimaps to find the ward code for where you live.

Figure 2: Breakdown of reasons for taking/not taking the COVID-19 vaccine per ward in the Gauteng Province. Data source: GCRO QoL 7 (2023/24).

Demographic variation

Female respondents (65%) were more likely than male respondents (60%) to have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Women are often primary caretakers and understand the value of vaccines for disease prevention and control. When comparing population groups, 81% of Indian/Asian respondents received the vaccine, followed by 75% of White respondents. Lower proportions of Black African and Coloured respondents received the vaccine (60% and 62% respectively) (Figure 3).

Respondents who receive a lower income, had lower vaccination rates (Figure 3). Merafong had the highest percentage of respondents who received the vaccine (76%) compared to Emfuleni which had the lowest percentage of respondents who were vaccinated (53%).

Figure 3: Demographic breakdown of those vaccinated against COVID-19 vaccine in the Gauteng Province. Data source: GCRO QoL 7 (2023/24).

In Gauteng, 42% of those who did get vaccinated indicated that they got the vaccine to protect themselves, 9% wanted to protect their family and 7% were forced by their workplace (Figure 4). Respondents who did not vaccinate indicated that safety was the biggest concern (19%), or they did not have time to get vaccinated (5%). Notably, 4% of respondents said that they believed COVID-19 was a hoax and therefore they did not need a vaccine (that is over half a million people in Gauteng). This is not limited to South Africa; a quarter of UK residents also believe COVID-19 was a hoax (Bobby Duffy & Rod Dacombe, 2023). Social media likely played a part in the misinformation spread (Bobby Duffy & Rod Dacombe, 2023).

Figure 4: Reasons for taking/not taking the COVID-19 vaccine in the Gauteng Province. Data source: GCRO QoL 7 (2023/24).

Figure 5 shows that 15% of Coloured respondents who got vaccinated did so because they were forced by their workplace, followed by Black African respondents (12%), Indian/Asian respondents (10%) and White respondents (9%). Compared to 14% of male respondents, 15% of female respondents got the vaccine to protect others. Women have better health seeking behaviour than men and are more likely to seek out care when needed (Parker et al., 2020).

Figure 5: Demographic breakdown of reasons cited among those vaccinated against COVID-19 vaccine in the Gauteng Province. Data source: GCRO QoL 7 (2023/24).

Conclusion

In Gauteng, 63% of respondents of this survey indicated that they were vaccinated against COVID-19. High vaccination rates were mostly in wealthier areas where there was easier access to vaccines (more sites, better transport etc). High vaccination rates were also observed in mining areas, suggesting a mining policy of mandatory vaccinations. Since 63% would not be adequate coverage for herd immunity (Liu et al., 2022), the levels of COVID-19 vaccination provide an indication of risks for possible challenges in future pandemics. Attitudes towards vaccination have severe impacts on elimination of vaccine preventable diseases (such as polio, measles and rubella), and scientists could make a more of an effort to communicate safety and efficacy of vaccines, especially during periods of high disease transmission.

References

Bobby Duffy & Rod Dacombe. (2023, June). Conspiracy belief among the UK public and the role of alternative media. The Policy Institute. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/conspiracy-belief-among-the-uk-public.pdf.

Els, F., Naidoo, Y. and Maree, G. (2024 Forthcoming) Covid and vaccine hesitancy: Findings from the GCRO’s Quality of Life Survey 7 (2023/24). Data Brief 17. Johannesburg: Gauteng City-Region Observatory. https://doi.org/10.36634/PEUC6950.

Liu, H., Zhang, J., Cai, J., Deng, X., Peng, C., Chen, X., Yang, J., Wu, Q., Chen, X., Chen, Z., Zheng, W., Viboud, C., Zhang, W., Ajelli, M., & Yu, H. (2022). Investigating vaccine-induced immunity and its effect in mitigating SARS-CoV-2 epidemics in China. BMC Medicine, 20(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02243-1.

Parker, A., Maree, G., Götz, G., & Khanyile, S. (2020). Women and COVID-19 in Gauteng, Map of the Month. Gauteng City-Region Observatory. August 2020. https://doi.org/10.36634/XXMC5687.

World Health Organization African region. (2022, September 1). Curbing COVID-19 in a South African gold mine. https://www.afro.who.int/photo-story/curbing-covid-19-south-african-gold-mine#:~:text=During%20the%20strict%20lockdown%20in,back%20half%20of%20the%20workforce.

Map Design: Jennifer Murray

Edits and inputs: Richard Ballard and Kerrigan McCarthy

Suggested Citation: Els, F., Naidoo, Y. and Maree, G. (2024). Comparing COVID-19 vaccination rates in Gauteng, Map of the Month. Gauteng City-Region Observatory. August 2024. https://doi.org/10.36634/WKLX7211