[ad_1]
It is necessary for people to learn about the vaccine through an authentic and authorized channel
Representative image. AP
As we approach a major breakthrough in the fight against COVID, the final lap of the global race for vaccine access and delivery continues. Controlling the virus will be the most important global goal in 2021. Vaccination against preventable diseases can be seen as a public good, as it is neither rival nor excludable. Vaccines create positive externalities, as they not only directly protect vaccinated individuals, but also indirectly benefit the unvaccinated. It is also one of the most crucial policy interventions to achieve 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including good health, the eradication of poverty, the reduction of inequalities, decent work and economic growth.
In addition to making vaccines affordable and accessible, the global health community and governments around the world will have to overcome several barriers to gain confidence in the vaccine and encourage people to adopt it. According to the World Health Organization in 2019, vaccine hesitancy was one of the top ten threats to global health. One of the biggest challenges could be convincing people to get vaccinated. According to a recent survey by the World Economic Forum and Ipsos conducted in October, there is wide variation between countries in the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19
As long as such a vaccine is available, nearly 87 percent of Indians, 54 percent in France, 64 percent in the United States, and 68 percent in South Africa intend to get vaccinated.
Although some countries have a higher vaccine acceptance rate than others, in the current COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world population must be protected to prevent the virus from transcending borders. Therefore, countries need to develop effective strategies through evidence-based policy impulses to address potential bottlenecks that may occur in the near future.
Intention to get vaccinated
Historically, vaccines have proven to be successful in reducing various diseases such as polio, measles, smallpox, etc. Vaccines not only have a direct effect on reducing individual risk of the disease, but also an indirect impact on herd immunity, a term used to denote the immunity enjoyed by society when a sufficient number of people have protection against vaccination or against a previous infection. Although experts still do not have enough information on the exact percentage of the population that must be vaccinated to have herd immunity to COVID-19 , the vaccine will remain crucial to limit the epidemic.
However, an increase in the vaccination rate can create a paradoxical effect and a social dilemma, leading to a problem of free use. Due to the costs and risks of vaccination, the tendency of “free use” of the individual increases. As social vaccination rates increase, the immune population will also protect unvaccinated individuals, therefore the individual incentive to get vaccinated decreases. Vaccine hesitancy or skepticism can also develop due to various reasons, including unfamiliarity, misinformation, and personal experience with the disease. When dealing with a new vaccine, it is critical that false skepticism about vaccine adoption is addressed early on.
Skepticism about vaccines has the potential to undermine efforts to control the disease. For example, in India, one of the main reasons for the low uptake of the oral polio vaccine in the early 2000s in Uttar Pradesh was misinformation about the side effects of the vaccine. During the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the lack of institutional trust between the people were the main barriers for the government to guarantee mass vaccination attempts. In the age of post-truth, with the proliferation of fake news and misinformation, doubt about vaccines has increased around the world. Skepticism about vaccines is often supported by the anti-vaccination and anti-vaccine movements, which promote conspiracy theories, misinformation, and myths about the effectiveness of vaccines. In the United States, rejection of the vaccine has risen from 2.5 percent in 2010 to 4 percent in 2016. Another study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine highlighted that religious extremism and political instability play a role. crucial role in lowering confidence in vaccines in many countries.
Countering Skepticism About Vaccines
Behavioral science can help understand the reasons for vaccine rejection or acceptance and promote acceptance through social incentives. A ‘push’ is a political intervention that aims to predictably change human behavior without limiting freedom of choice. In many cases social nudges have been used in the form of individual incentives. For example, in France, vaccination records are required for children to be able to enroll in schools. Vaccination cards can also be an important indicator for public authorities to encourage acceptance. In Australia, financial incentives, such as tax rebates for immunization, ensured the adoption of vaccination. In some cases, voice calls and targeted text messages helped send reminders to receive a specific vaccination shot.
The vaccination process should be as fluid and accessible as possible. A J-Pal study in rural India indicated that small incentives, such as providing a ration such as a kilogram of lentils for each visit, can increase immunization rates and overcome the tendency to procrastinate. Families are encouraged to return to complete the vaccination cycle. Often times, a high level of absenteeism among healthcare workers increases the tendency for people to procrastinate. Mobile immunization camps can be set up in villages and additional incentives can be used to compensate for inconvenience or loss of daily wages for informal workers. Also, government-authorized apps can be used to identify the closest vaccination field.
Additionally, to build public trust and understanding at an early stage, there needs to be effective social mobilization and transparent communication about vaccine trials between vaccine manufacturers, health officials, and communities.
People need to learn about the vaccine through an authentic and authorized channel. In Britain, for example, the anti-disinformation unit has worked in conjunction with social media companies to identify and respond to disinformation and anti-vax disinformation. Local authorities and leaders should be involved to promote the adoption of the vaccine. During the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, local authorities were found to be more trustworthy than national levels of government. In India, health workers like ASHAs (accredited social health activists) can help spread information related to vaccine side effects, efficacy and procedure at the local level.
Despite the vaccine being a global public good, the allocation of vaccines between countries will remain a daunting task: wealthy nations representing 13 percent of the world’s population have already purchased more than half of the future supply of COVID-19 vaccine. While focusing on the global supply side of the vaccine, public authorities must also design an action plan to identify ‘non-adopters’ and consequently develop specific communication strategies for effective delivery. To build confidence and vaccine literacy from the start, it is critical to strike the right balance between educating people about the importance of universal vaccine coverage and avoiding any suggestion of coercion.
Opinions expressed are personal.
The article was originally published on ORF Online and has been reproduced here.
