CVACS
The COVID-19 Vaccine Survey (CVACS) aimed to collect high quality, timely information to inform the development of campaigns and programmes to improve COVID-19 vaccination uptake in South Africa.
CVACS is the COVID-19 Vaccine Survey and aimed to collect high quality, timely information to inform the development of campaigns and programmes to improve COVID-19 vaccination rates in South Africa.
Between November 2021 and March 2022, CVACS conducted two rapid, longitudinal, phone-based surveys to understand public opinions and demand for COVID-19 vaccination in South Africa. SALDRU’s Brendan Maughan-Brown and Katherine Eyal co-led the project, with collaboration from Kim Ingle and Tim Brophy (SALDRU) and Alison Buttenheim of University of Pennsylvania. The CVACS team was joined by Lindokuhle Njozela (UCT) and Tim Köhler (UCT) for Survey 2 research activities. The project team:
- Engaged with policy makers – through workshops and policy crowdsourcing – to co-create questionnaires to answer the most urgent programme and policy questions.
- Rapidly combined, summarized and shared findings to ensure that campaigns and programmes are informed by real-time information.
- Rapidly made the data freely and publicly available to maximise the project’s impact.
The CVACS study timeline:
CVACS Survey 2 Full Results and Data (N= 3994)
CVACS held a webinar on 13 April 2022 to key findings from Survey 2 of CVACS. The webinar recording is available to watch on our YouTube Channel here and is also embedded below. The slides that we shared during the webinar are available here, and the policy brief sharing these key results is available here, on OpenSALDRU.
The Survey 2 data is also freely via DataFirst’s online data portal here. If you would like to view what questions were asked in CVACS Survey 2, view the Survey 2 unvaccinated questionnaire here and the Survey 2 vaccinated questionnaire here.
CVACS Survey 1 Full Results and Data (N= 3510)
This slide deck and policy brief contain findings based on the full sample, and thus updated the preliminary findings from the CVACS Survey 1 (based on the first 2000 interviews from Survey 1) which were released in December 2021. The results in the slide deck and policy brief were adjusted using survey weights.
The Survey 1 data is also freely via DataFirst’s online data portal here. The Survey 1 questionnaire, the CVACS panel user manual and a set of syntax files are also available for download at the same location. The Stata syntax files show how to merge the within-survey round data files; how the employment status variable was derived; and how to deflate monetary values to the same month’s value.
If you would like to view what questions were asked in CVACS Survey 1, view the Survey 1 questionnaire here.
CVACS Wave 1 Preliminary Findings Webinar (N= 1940)
CVACS held a webinar on 14 December 2021 to share preliminary results from the first 1940 interviews which were conducted in Survey 1 of CVACS. The webinar recording is available to watch on our YouTube Channel here and is also embedded below. The slides that we shared during the webinar are available here on OpenSALDRU.
CVACS participants’ FAQs
What is CVACS?
CVACS is the COVID-19 Vaccine Survey and aims to collect high quality, up-to-date information on people’s opinions on COVID-19 vaccinations in South Africa.
Who is running this study?
The study is run by researchers from the University of Cape Town (UCT).
How long will the interview take?
The survey will be over the phone and should only take about 15 minutes.
Why have I been contacted?
CVACS is a telephonic survey of randomly selected people in South Africa.
What sort of questions will I be asked?
We would like to ask you some questions about yourself, your employment situation, your household, and your feelings toward COVID-19 vaccination. You don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to.
How will I be interviewed?
You will be interviewed via the phone.
Why should I participate?
Your participation will help the study collect information that could be useful to policymakers to help them know the feelings and difficulties that people are experiencing regarding COVID-19 vaccinations. Participating is voluntary and you can stop at any time, ask questions, or choose to not answer any question. There are no risks to your participation. We do not pay people for participating in the survey. However, you will be added into a lucky draw every time you participate. Read more about why your participation is so important.
Will my information be kept confidential?
Your information will be kept confidential and anonymous. We are gathering information from thousands of people like you so that we can understand more about feelings towards COVID-19 vaccinations in South Africa. Before any research results are presented, the details and the answers that you give will be grouped together with the responses from other participants such that no one will be able to identify you and your responses. Any information linked to you is kept completely confidential.
Has this study received ethics approval?
Yes, the study has been approved by the University of Cape Town (UCT) Commerce Ethics in Research Committee. View the ethics approval letter from UCT.
Who should I contact if I have any concerns?
If you have any concerns feel free to contact Brendan Maughan-Brown, one of the CVACS Principal Investigators, on 021 650 5695. You can also email cvacs@uct.ac.za
Where can I get reliable information about Coronavirus vaccinations?
Please visit the COVID-19 Coronavirus South African Resource Portal for information about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccinations in South Africa: https://sacoronavirus.co.za.
In case you need it, the Coronavirus emergency hotline number is 0800 029 999.
Importance of participation in CVACS
Why is CVACS important?
CVACS will show us how real South African’s feel about COVID-19 vaccination and whether they intend to get vaccinated or not. It will help us see what is preventing those people who want to get vaccinated but haven’t yet, from getting vaccinated.
Why is your participation in CVACS important?
It is important that people of different walks of life take part so that the voices of all types of South Africans are included in the study. Without you, our participants, CVACS would not be possible.
How is CVACS data used?
The anonymised data – containing no personal information such as names – and results from CVACS are used by researchers and communicated to policy makers to help them make the best decisions they can about the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in South Africa. This anonymised data is made freely available for anyone to download.
CVACS lucky prize draws
Every time you are interviewed for the study, you will get one entry into a lucky draw for that round of interviews. The lucky draw for each round of interviews is for one of three R3000 store vouchers of the winners’ choosing. Each time you are interviewed, respondents also got another entry into a grand lucky prize draw in April 2022, for a R10000 in-store voucher.
The lucky draw for the first round of interviews was drawn in December 2021. The winners of that first lucky prize draw have been notified and were from the following provinces: Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng. The lucky draw for the second round of interviews and the grand prize were drawn in April 2022. These winners are in the process of being notified. Winners for the Survey 2 lucky prize draw were from the following provinces: Limpopo, Free State, Western Cape. The Grand Prize winner was from the province of Gauteng.
Closed
A key aim of the CVACS study is to engage with policy makers, through workshops and policy crowdsourcing, to co-create questionnaires to answer the most pressing programmatic and policy questions. The study also aims to rapidly synthesize and share findings to ensure that campaigns and programmes are informed by real-time information. The CVACS consultative group is key to facilitating and enabling this process.
Members of the CVACS consultative group are:
Kate Alexander
Zameer Brey
David Harrison
Saul Johnson
Mosima Mabunda
Ammaarah Martinus
Jacqui Miot
Gaurang Tanna
Closed
CVACS is implemented by the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) based at UCT’s School of Economics. Our email address is cvacs@uct.ac.za
Should they have any concerns, study participants can contact Brendan Maughan-Brown, one of the CVACS Principal Investigators, on 021 650 5695.
Closed