Čaplinskas skeptical about encouraging older people to get vaccinated: sees a better tool

The benefit would also be paid to people aged 75 and over who are currently fully vaccinated and who receive a booster dose, that is, a third or second dose, before April 1, depending on the vaccine chosen.

The incentive may work, but how it will affect society is unclear.

Professor Saulius Čaplinskas, an expert on communicable diseases, considers that decision to be “quite reserved”. According to him, it is likely to have a positive effect, but probably for a very small number of people. Furthermore, it is not clear how this will affect society in the long term.

“We see what is happening in the hospitals now, now there are younger people who are also seriously ill, which overwhelms the health centers. So the question is how it will be accepted by people and what will be the long-term outlook.

And not only in terms of covid vaccines, but also in terms of the third dose, of future vaccination programs. After all, perhaps the next challenge of the pandemic, if one arrives. And in general, the focus of prevention programs, trying to prevent other chronic diseases ”, said prof. S. Čaplinskas.

Such monetary measures can lead certain groups in society to think that the state has to pay to take care of their health. So the next time a person is asked to get vaccinated for general safety, the person will wait for the promise that they will be paid for it.

“We continue to support that narrative that not everyone has to take care of their health and understand why it is necessary, why others need to be protected. We are not trying to educate or motivate people about why they need to get vaccinated. It is as if we capitulated to the attitude of some people to abstain from vaccination, “said the interlocutor.

According to the professor, it is very important for a person to understand for himself why he needs to be vaccinated, to assess the risk of the disease and to see what happens to sick people like him.

“The content of the communication must change. This can only be achieved through communication. I highly doubt that social advertising can have any effect unless the content and the face of that advertising to the person is the authority. Were they really authorized the people who spoke during the Shoulder for Freedom campaign? I think for most Lithuanian citizens it was just random faces, ”Prof S. Čaplinskas said.

The professor raised the question of whether there is currently any public opinion poll showing why people are not vaccinated. And what groups of these people are they?

“Then, depending on who and why, it will be possible to form different target groups, target the communication audiences and then decide how to convey the message to them.

The € 100 incentive is likely to have some short-term effect. But in the long run, you need to weigh very well what the impact might be. Therefore, I have reservations about this idea. You also need to consider a long-term strategy. And what kind of attitudes do we want to form in society ”, said the professor.

The teacher positively values ​​the promotion of doctors

Vilnius City Council this week approved to allocate 60 thousand. promote vaccination of the elderly. A survey of Vilnius residents commissioned by the municipality showed that a family doctor is the most reliable source of information for them during a pandemic. Therefore, it was decided that doctors working in Vilnius municipality will receive 10 euros each for a vaccinated patient aged 65 years or older who is enrolled in a health care institution.

This incentive for doctors was well received by the professor.

“I welcome the encouragement of doctors to vaccinated people. Compensation to the doctor for a job well done, an achieved result, for additional work is a normal incentive service. It exists all over the world and had to be done from the beginning. And from the beginning, there was no need to eliminate doctors from participating in the management of the pandemic, they had to participate in the process of vaccination, diagnosis, education.

But that required motivating them and giving them the tools. The tools are the vaccine and knowledge. We are well aware that this is a new disease, new vaccines, they are also new for doctors. And sometimes it’s hard for doctors to talk about it, there has been little specific training for doctors and nurses on fighting and vaccines. The doctor may get lost, he may not have the necessary knowledge to respond, and if the patient sees that the doctor’s knowledge is unstable, the patient will leave the doubt. This is a big problem, made by the previous government, “said Prof. S. Čaplinskas.