Dear Editor,
While the rapid development of vaccines against COVID-19 is an extraordinary achievement, successfully vaccinating Guyana’s population presents many challenges, from a deceitful, selfish, distrustful and self-serving Opposition in Region #10, and most importantly acceptance by political leaders who continue to lead some of their supporters along the wrong path.
It is time that we open our eyes and think for ourselves, that the Opposition don’t care if we live or die, once their selfish political ambitions are met.
We must never forget Harmon’s “shamefully reckless, selfish, move after he had taken both doses of the vaccine against the interest of Guyana and Guyanese,
I call on Region #10 residents and hesitant Guyanese to heed the calls of the Ministry of Health and the call of scientists and doctors and get vaccinated.
However, it is true that trust in the vaccines is vital, and is critically dependent on the ability of our Government, community leaders and stakeholders to communicate the benefits of the vaccine and vaccination while delivering the vaccines safely and effectively.
This brief addresses the role of our PPP/C Government’s commitment in promoting confidence in the effectiveness and safety through effective communication, as well as trust in their ability to procure and distribute them efficiently and equitably. Only a small minority of the population holds strong anti-vaccination views, hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccination, which is evident in some regions.
As social media is rife with posts disparaging the vaccine hesitancy, these reactions to a complex and nuanced issue are doing more harm than good. There should be no doubt about it: COVID-19 vaccines are saving lives.
Consider some recent statistics from the UK. In a study tracking more than 200,000 people, nearly every single participant had developed antibodies against the virus within two weeks of their second dose. And despite initial worries that the current vaccines may be less effective against the Delta variant, analyses suggest that both the AstraZeneca and the Pfizer-BioNTech jabs reduce hospitalisation rates by 92-96%.
As many health practitioners have repeated, the risks of severe side effects from a vaccine are tiny in comparison to the risk of contracting the disease itself.
Yet, a sizeable number of people in Region 10 are still reluctant to get their shots.
The result is becoming something of a culture war on social media, with many online commentators claiming that the vaccine-hesitant persons are simply ignorant or selfish. But psychologists who specialise in medical decision-making argue these choices are often the result of many complicated factors, which need to be addressed sensitively if we are to have any hope of reaching population-level immunity.
First, some distinctions. While it is tempting to assume that anyone who refuses a vaccine holds the same beliefs, the fears of most vaccine-hesitant people should not be confused with the bizarre theories of staunch anti-vaxxers. They’re very vocal, and they have a strong presence offline and online. But they’re a very small minority.
However, the vast majority of vaccine-hesitant people do have a political agenda, and are committed to an anti-scientific cause while they are simply undecided about their choice to take the injection.
The good news is that many people who were initially hesitant are changing their minds. But even a delay is considered a threat to health, because viral infections spread very quickly. This would have been problematic if we were still dealing with the older variants of the virus, but the higher transmissibility of the new Delta variant has increased the urgency to reach as many people as quickly as possible.
It is time for us considers the following psychological factors:
Confidence: the person’s trust in the vaccines’ efficacy and safety.
Complacency: whether or not the persons in the region consider the disease itself to be a serious risk to their health.
Collective responsibility: the willingness to protect others from infection through one’s own vaccination
Our Government must establish a targeted approach in Region 10. The Opposition leaders will never change. I would urge my Government to stop thinking they can reach the mass of niches out there with one mass-market vaccine message, and work more creatively with many effective communication partners. This might involve closer collaboration with the influencer role models within each community, who can provide consistent and accurate information about the vaccines’ risks and benefits. However, as we choose to deliver the information, health services need to make it clear that they are engaging in an open dialogue, rather than simply dismissing them out of hand.
We have to listen to people’s concerns, acknowledge them, and give them information so they can make an informed decision. it’s essential to engage in a two-way conversation – and that’s something that we could all learn as we discuss these issues with our friends and families.
Being respectful and recognising other people’s concerns I think could actually be more important than just spitting out the facts or statistics. A lot of the time it’s more about the personal connection than it is about the actual information that you provide.
Recognising that vaccination campaigns of the magnitude needed are unprecedented, our Government’s actions to garner trust will be essential to success and to the emergence of a more resilient society after the crisis
Our Government needs to give priority to addressing issues of trust – trust both in vaccines, and in the institutions responsible for the vaccination endeavour. We need to promote confidence among the public in the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines, as well as in the capacity of Government to manage the logistical challenges competently.
More broadly, the pandemic has triggered widespread disinformation, which has undermined both understanding and acceptance of science and public policy, and this extends to the issue of vaccine acceptance. Despite widespread recognition that COVID-19 is a critical issue to people all around Guyana, some remain unwilling to be vaccinated.
Overall, the success of vaccination campaigns will largely be influenced by the extent to which people trust the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines, the competence and reliability of the institutions that deliver them, and the principles that guide our Government’s decisions and actions.
There is no doubt that the PPP/C Government’s priority is to strengthen public trust as the COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out in the various regions, and the desire is to provide examples of good practices that others countries have implemented which can enhance people’s confidence in vaccination campaigns and the relevance of our Government’s competence in building trust in vaccines, with the subsequent sections discussing integrity, openness and fairness in this context.
Sincerely,
David Adams
