The public health problem of vaccine hesitancy

Dr Peter Figueroa, Professor of Public Health, Epidemiology and HIV/AIDS, has said more needs to be done to increase the accessibility of the vaccine. “There are hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans who would like to take the vaccine but the vaccine has been in short supply. It is now available but what we need to do is make it easy for people to get the vaccines and you will find that thousands, hundreds of thousands will come and get the vaccine,” said Figuerora.

He noted that people who have decided to ‘wait and see’ now know people who have had COVID-19, or individuals who have been vaccinated and experienced mild symptoms. Figueroa added that a lot of citizens do not have the financial means to travel to get vaccines, or the time to wait in crowds to be vaccinated.  “I think the vaccine should be in every main health centre, and should be available to persons who come into the health centre,” said Figueroa. He shared that numerous people go to type 3 health centres for blood pressure and blood sugar tests, as well as regular check-ups, and these centres can be used as an opportunity to provide the vaccine for the elderly and other patients during their visit.

“Too much is made of vaccine hesitancy, so it sets a negative tone. Most people want the vaccine,” said Figuerora.

The reasons citizens who are hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccines give for their diffidence vary from lack of understanding of the vaccine and how it might affect their bodies, to pre-existing medical conditions and a lack of transparency on the part of the government.

Janet Williams (a pseudonym) says that she is afraid to get vaccinated because her immune system has often responded negatively to vaccines. Williams added that she has suffered from meningitis and measles, despite being vaccinated for these diseases. “It’s actually very new information to me. There’s so much misinformation going around and it clouds my head because I’m already scared to begin with. I did not know it didn’t have the actual virus. I thought it was like, a lower intensity of it,” said Williams when asked about her understanding of the vaccine.

Williams suggested that the government use people outside of its organizations to share information about the vaccine with the public. “People are very distrustful of the government generally, especially the older population, for good reason. Its not enough to say go take the vaccine but to provide actual scientific information about it and how it affects us,” said Williams. She mentioned that more discussions need to be had about any immensely negative side effects to better sensitize the population of those possibilities.

Additionally, Sidony Dunn shared that she is hesitant to get vaccinated because she is not sure how the vaccine prevents the spread of the virus. “I don’t quite understand how it prevents the spread of the virus. You are vaccinated and still catch COVID and spread it. So, the only reason for me to take it would be to not get very sick,” said Dunn.

Shaygne Smith shared similar reasons for her lag in getting vaccinated. “I think they need to include the risk about the vaccine as well as the benefits, instead of just giving the benefits. Also, I don’t believe they’re being very transparent with us,” said Smith.

The Ministry of Health advises that citizens get vaccinated against COVID-19. For more information about the COVID-19 vaccines, visit the Ministry of Health’s website https://www.moh.gov.jm/