Plaguey jab hesitancy

Friday 30th July, 2021

Sri Lanka’s national vaccination drive has gained considerable momentum with more vaccine doses arriving, and the administration thereof continuing apace. The only way to reopen the country fully, and revive the economy soon is to accelerate the vaccination programme further, and ensure the public compliance with the health regulations to beat the Delta variant, decisively. Sadly, it has been reported that some people are not keen to have themselves vaccinated. This kind of vaccine hesitancy or wariness is bound to stand in the way of the country’s reopening plans. How could this issue be tackled? It is however not limited to Sri Lanka. The US and Australia are among the countries affected by the vexatious jab wariness, which is a threat to public health.

It may not be possible to make vaccination mandatory. But everything possible has to be done to persuade the unvaccinated to get the jab for their own sake as well as that of others. In this country, various factors have been adduced to explain vaccine hesitancy. Some people have an unfounded fear of vaccines. Others have been misled by misinformation campaigns carried out by some elements promoting certain brands of vaccines; they are waiting for the jabs of their choice, and this has been the result of the ongoing international trade war over vaccines. There are still others who are planning to travel overseas and want to receive the shots specified by the countries they will be visiting.

The concerns of those who avoid the jab have to be addressed and remedial measures adopted if we are to achieve the much-needed herd immunity through vaccination. The World Health Organization (WHO) has exploded many a myth about vaccines, and approved several jabs after testing them scientifically, and its messages and recommendations have not apparently reached some sections of the Sri Lankan public, who must be made aware that all WHO-recommended vaccines are safe and effective against coronavirus.

Vaccine is science, which has benefited humans tremendously, and there is no reason why one should not repose one’s trust therein. It is the opinion of respected medical professionals that one should heed as regards the pandemic and the vaccines, and not the much-publicised views of profit-seeking multinationals that are notorious for questionable business practices and have even been fined for resorting to corruption to promote their products.

There has been a mixed public reaction to a proposal by the Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) to limit interprovincial travel to the vaccinated. It has struck a responsive chord with some people, but the opponents thereof have pointed out that such a move will be tantamount to discrimination and a violation of people’s rights. Many people have not yet received the jab, and they will be at a disadvantage if the unvaccinated are denied permission to travel across the provinces, the critics of the LPBOA proposal have argued, maintaining that in a democratic society, nobody should be forced to undergo vaccination. This argument is not without some merits. Prior to the commencement of the national vaccination programme, the government announced that nobody would be forced to take the jab. But one may ask how fair it is to respect the rights of some people who refuse to be vaccinated at the expense of others’ right to safety. As for the pandemic, nobody will be safe until everybody is safe, as health experts have warned.

Even the advanced democracies have had to pressure their citizens to take the jab, and devise ways and means of achieving that end. In the US, President Joe Biden, who deserves the credit for having saved millions of American lives by believing in science and expediting the vaccination programme, is expected to announce that all civilian federal employees must be inoculated against coronavirus or be forced to submit to regular testing, physical distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel, according to The New York Times. Fair enough! If one wants one’s right to remain unvaccinated respected, one has to respect others’ right to remain safe, and, therefore agree to enjoy one’s rights under certain conditions for the greater good.

The US vaccine persuasion model is worthy of emulation.