“Besides the high rate of vaccine acceptance, Charta Politika’s survey also recorded the growing trend of public acceptance of vaccines,” Communications and Information Technology Minister Johnny G. Plate said on Friday.

Johnny expected the positive trend to continue and more people to be completely vaccinated. He added that the survey had also shown growing public sentiments toward the government’s vaccination program.

He pointed out that in January, public trust in vaccination was recorded at 51 percent, then grew to 58.3 percent in February, 65.7 percent in March and then 72.4 percent in July.

Johnny said the growing positive sentiment has motivated all related stakeholders who have been involved in educating the public and raising awareness about COVID-19 vaccines from the start of the pandemic.

“So, we encourage all stakeholders to continue their efforts and spread factual information about vaccines for the sake of our country,” he said.

Additionally, 53.1 percent of respondents said they believed in the integrity of the government’s statements on COVID-19. Johnny conceded he was relieved knowing that there were more people who believed the government than those who did not.

“The Charta Politika survey has been a big help for us.”

He went on to say that more than half of the respondents were satisfied with the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnny said the government would continue to go all out in fighting the health crisis.

“If we spot mistakes, then we would immediately correct them. Currently, the government is in the middle of improving data accuracy,” he said.

 When asked about the extended public activity restrictions (PPKM), almost all respondents, or 92.3 percent, acknowledged that they were aware that restrictions had been implemented to curb COVID-19 infections. Meanwhile, 52.7 percent of respondents believed that the public had adequately been following the restrictions. However, 54.3 percent of respondents admitted that they had witnessed repeated health protocol violations during the last month. 

Commenting on this, Johnny expected people to be more proactive in reminding their neighbors and friends or even just passers-by of the importance of following health protocols, as it was still the best way to protect oneself from COVID-19.

From the start of the pandemic, people have been asked to wash their hands in flowing water; now, they are even advised to wear two face masks to further protect themselves from the virus. Avoiding crowds and maintaining a physical distance also play important roles in defeating the pandemic. 

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