Hesitation against the COVID-19 vaccine can threaten public health-nationwide

Mid-November and enter the second wave Coronavirus Pandemic and health professionals are increasingly concerned about public distrust of vaccines and lack a clear communication strategy to address the many questions Canadians ask. vaccine For COVID-19.

Cancer survivor Karin Methven is afraid to sign COVID-19 (new coronavirus infection) (# If there is no character limit, add parentheses when it first appears.. “Well, this is really urgent,” says Methven, Delta, British Columbia. “We 10,000 marks You are in Canada right now. 10,000 people died. “

Brit Bright was ill for nearly six months during the 1950s influenza pandemic. It left her with permanent lung damage. “I jump on COVID [vaccine]”Bright, a former psychiatrist in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, says.

Courtney Vasquez, the two mothers, mentioned the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and said, “I want to wait a few years to see how it works.”

These are some of the recently convened voices from the City Hall Global News: New RealityAssess Canadian views on potential coronavirus vaccines.

Nine Canadians commented on the potential of the COVID-19 vaccine. They were among the thousands of people who wrote in Global News on this topic. Their comments, along with new poll data, confirm the disturbing trends that are emerging around COVID-19, the growing hesitation towards potential vaccines.

“We’ve found that the idea that most people get vaccinated is okay,” says Stephen Taylor, a psychiatrist at the University of British Columbia who is studying vaccine hesitation.

“But the number of people hesitating seems to be increasing.”

It may still take months for scientists to complete clinical trials of the potential COVID-19 vaccine, and public opinion may change in the meantime.

Health Canada says Canadians should be confident in this process, but the federal government plans with the state to address false information, confusion, and unanswered questions from residents. It is working.

The messaging program hasn’t been rolled out yet, says Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser to the federal sector, “but it will come out pretty soon.”

It’s not clear if this is enough right away.

Slim majority willing to take the vaccine if available

according to Survey Only 54% of Canadians, conducted by pollster Ipsos for Global News from October 23-26, are ready to be vaccinated as soon as possible. Only 22 percent of those numbers are strongly motivated to get vaccinated immediately.

Opinion polls also found that only 61% of respondents supported compulsory vaccination with COVID-19. This is down from 72% who supported a compulsory vaccination program just four months ago.

“This vaccine […] To be honest, it’s a sign of how much we trust doctors, how much we trust governments and politicians, and how much we trust the media about this, “Global’s said. Serena Crowder, the mother of four who spoke, said. City Hall in Georgia, Ontario.

UBC Taylor says public health officials should have started a communication program on vaccines a few months ago.

“I knew this would be a problem,” he says.

Rumors cost $ 500 million

Heidi Larson has traveled the world, worked for the United Nations, and has fought rumors that vaccines are somehow harmful.

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She warns that failure to anticipate and address suspicions and misinformation can have disastrous consequences.

“The most dramatic example I’ve seen was rumors in northern Nigeria driven by political distrust,” says Larson, founding director of Nigeria. Vaccine Trust Project, A research group based in London, England.

She says the rumors have created resistance to vaccination campaigns against polio in Nigeria. This has spread the disease to 20 countries, “it cost $ 500 million to reset the clocks of the World Polio Program,” she says.

“Warp Speed ​​Operation”

Taylor also states that civil servants need to be careful about how to describe or label new vaccine projects.

“When we call a vaccine development program something like’Operation Warp Speed’, it’s the name of the program in the United States, which means things are in a hurry,” says Taylor.

Instead, he said, the government should emphasize process security, not process speed. “A more reassuring title of the vaccine development and dissemination program is more likely to gain public trust (for example, we call the program” operation due diligence “instead of” operation due diligence “),” he said recently. I wrote it in co-authorship. Journal paper..

Canada has one of the strongest regulatory systems in the world for developing and approving new vaccines.

In this system, three federal scientific teams review the vaccine before approving or rejecting it. Health Canada’s Sharma states that one team will review pre-clinical studies of animals, a second team will review human clinical trials, and a third team will review the manufacturing process.

Sharma also states that the department’s review of potential COVID-19 vaccines is “same as any other vaccine.”

Therefore, she explains that if the department determines that a vaccine candidate does not mean a criterion, Health Canada will not approve it.

“There’s a lot of inaccurate information,” says Sharma. “There’s a lot of information that reaches people. It’s great and rewarding to find out what information you can trust, as opposed to what people just send.”

Values-based approach

Saad Omer, director of the Global Health Institute at Yale University, warns that the government should not assume that people will be vaccinated.

“In the spring, there was this naive belief that people suddenly started accepting this vaccine because everyone is talking. [COVID-19]”Omar, director of the Global Health Institute at Yale University, says.

Whether or not to address vaccine hesitation and skepticism about climate change, the challenge for communicators is to strengthen the message that science is sound, but it is also to meet people in terms of values.

“You can’t change people’s values, and you shouldn’t try to change people’s values, but you can talk to people’s values,” Omar said.

Pharmaceutical company pledge

The pharmaceutical industry is also taking steps to increase public confidence in their efforts. Signed by CEOs of nine pharmaceutical companies in September Pledge Adhere to accepted scientific standards when looking for a vaccine.

“We haven’t cut corners at all. Sanofi Pasteur Canada’s General Manager Jean-Pierre Baylet told Global News: We’re taking the time, so we’re taking the vaccine. Is currently unavailable due to the time it takes. New reality..

Whatever findings a pharmaceutical company comes up with in a clinical trial, it should eventually be shared with Health Canada for scrutiny and review.

“I understand why there is some hesitation,” says Dr. Sharma, Health Canada’s medical adviser. But she adds: “We have a very powerful review system. […] No vaccine will be sent to Canadians without the approval of Health Canada. They need to be confident in the system. ”

Shift focus

Currently, billions of dollars are invested in vaccine development. But Yale University’s Saad Omer says the coordinated public education campaign is at a loss.

“This is a serious public health catastrophe,” he says. “And that moment needs to be consistent with the scale and scope of a systematic public health campaign to clarify the process of vaccine development and approval and discuss what is known and what is unknown.”

Populist politicians around the world, along with a few celebrities, fill the void with misleading information along with all sorts of conspiracy theories.

The general public is not the only one who is hesitant about vaccines. Distrust of the coronavirus vaccine is also rushing through the healthcare community, further exacerbating communication challenges.

“Healthcare providers,” says Omar. “Communication about this vaccine requires information and training. It is not done in most countries of the world, and it is one of the things that keeps me at night.”

Both Omar and Heidi Larson of the Vaccine Trust Project, I agree The way to instill confidence is for people to engage in a credible voice and at the community level.

“It’s about caring for people,” says Larson. “It’s about caring for their feelings and feelings, and why they feel hesitant, because that’s a big problem right now.”

At the same time, she says, breaking vaccine records and instilling confidence is a “great opportunity.”

“If you make a mistake, you will never forget it.”

See this and other original stories about our world at New reality Broadcast on Global TV on Saturday night online..