IN a World Economic Forum article, a research finding was quoted as saying that there is a need for a 60%-70% of the world’s population to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attain herd immunity. In my mind, this would have been easy to achieve if people aren’t hesitant and continue to procrastinate. In fact, many others totally reject the idea. This kind of reluctance was described by the article as the most colossal marketing communication challenge of this era.
Here in Dumaguete, many people are very hesitant to get vaccinated. There is also a huge number of people who have their first dozes, yet, continue to delay in getting their second dozes and boosters. Many others totally scrap the idea of vaccination in their lives. There are even those who would rather just die than get vaccinated.
Getting to know the reasons why these people are reluctant or are rejecting the idea is moot and academic; it’s pointless to focus on the reasons at this time when everything has been turned upside down because of the virus and its variants. What is imperative is to act on what must be done so that Dumaguetnons’ perspective will slant towards getting vaccinated.
This is the challenge that the future leaders of Dumaguete will have to take on – convince people to accept vaccination as a way to move on with their lives.
Wiping out vaccine indecision/reluctance
Many of our leaders and policy makers have simply focused on distribution and convenience through a combination of mass vaccination, hospital, physician, and drug store sites. But these strategies will make sense only for those who are sold on the vaccine solution, but not to those who are hesitant or are undecided. So, how can we eliminate vaccine reluctance?
Raise awareness/stop distortions
From my own discussions with people and actual observation, many people believe that the creation, development, and approval process of the vaccine was hasty and that not all side-effects were shared with the masses.
To respond to this mindset and address unfounded claims, local leaders (especially those with medical expertise/background) must proactively reach out and educate cynics through different methods such as phone calls, direct mail, television, billboards, and digital channels. In fact, I think the church can be used for this purpose.
Next is to be more assertive against vaccine misinformation, specifically on social media. Having reliable medical sources or known medical personalities directly repudiate erroneous and baseless claims online would be effective. Obviously, training and funding will be needed to do this but if we really want to get rid of this vaccine reluctance, we will just have to find the ways to accomplish it.
Focus on the “feelings” factor
Knowing that the vaccine-reluctant populace has developed strong feelings against it, leaders need to use information sources trusted by these people. Information sources such as medical providers, political, and faith-based leaders who can offer a different perspective that can sway the outlook of this population. A simple example would be to secure the testimony of a vaccine skeptic who changed his mind after a loved one’s demise due to the virus.
Facilitate action
In reaching out to people who are unconvinced about getting vaccinated, we need to employ proactive maneuvers. One is to have incentives, such as cash, free transportation, or create small-time lotteries and large block parties to incentivize vaccinations. Politicians do these things all the time. They offer money to people for very flimsy reasons, so why not give out money so that people are pushed to have the vaccine? So what if they did it for the money, what’s important is that they get vaccinated. In the case of business establishments, they should be encouraged to provide paid time-off, free products and giveaways for their personnel to get vaccinated.
Another is to boost “convenience.” Why not have the vaccines go to people instead of people lining up in very long queues? For example, we can have a mobile health unit to provide make-shift clinics in rural and underserved areas with high vaccine-hesitant populations. We can create “vaccine swat teams” to reach out to residents who have difficulty getting to mass vaccination sites.
Again, many will say these methods will cost us huge amounts. Yes, that might be true but what doesn’t cost money nowadays? If we want everyone to get vaccinated, we’ll just have to spend whatever we have to realize this objective.
I know convincing the skeptics about getting the vaccine is difficult. But if the right leaders get elected in the May 2022 political exercise, everything will be easy.
