A healthcare worker’s and Canada’s chief public officer’s thoughts on: Vaccine misgivings and hesitancy
A healthcare worker’s and Canada’s chief public officer’s thoughts on: Vaccine misgivings and hesitancy
“The rapid development of the vaccine does not mean we compromise safety or effectiveness” -– Dr. Theresa Tam
By Irish Mae Silvestre
The Philippine Reporter
As a healthcare worker, Zee (name withheld on request) is no stranger to medical terminology. Yet, when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, the Ontario resident feels like there’s still a lot that the public doesn’t know.
“My biggest concern is that we don’t even know where the virus came from so transparency is my biggest concern,” she said.
Restaurant owner Cecilia Noon said that the vaccine is “good news” for the elderly and the immunocompromised. However, she shared that she has misgivings about the long-term effects of the vaccine.
“I just updated my tetanus shot last year,” she said. However, when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, Noon said she has some misgivings. “It was developed in a very short time, like more tests should be done to prevent major side effects,” she stated. “If you’re healthy and have no underlying conditions, you should have the option not to take it. It should not be mandatory for everyone.
“It is sad that COVID is really dividing humanity,” said Noon.
Hesitancy a Growing Concern
As vaccinations become widespread, there’s a growing need for the government to address the public’s concerns.
In fact, on February 2, Minister of Health, the Honourable Patty Hajdu announced that through the Immunization Partnership Fund (IPF), $64 million have been allocated towards a campaign to address vaccine hesitancy and tackle the spread of misinformation.
“We are ensuring that Canadians make informed and confident vaccine choices for themselves and their families,” stated Hajdu in the press release. “Increasing vaccination uptake and acceptance is how we can work together to protect those most at-risk.”
During a recent press conference, Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said that while there’s certainly a willingness to get vaccinated, some would prefer to wait.
“The majority I would say I think is now over 70 percent of people do intend to get the vaccine but there’s a proportion of these that don’t want to get it straight away,” she said. “Of course, there’s not enough vaccine for everybody to get it straight away anyway but you know when they get their turn they should be lining up for the vaccine.”
The Privy Council Office has been conducting studies to better understand Canadians’ intention to get the vaccine. Dr. Tam stated that while 10 to 12 percent of Canadians said that they will not be getting the vaccine, more and more Canadians are willing to get vaccinated.
She stated that it’s a matter of perspective and answering questions about a vaccine that was only recently developed.
“There’s a number of people who just have basic questions about the vaccine in terms of clarifying that the rapid development of the vaccine does not mean we compromise safety or effectiveness,” she said.
As for concerns about long-term effects, Dr. Tam stated that they are constantly monitoring the situation.
“There are essentially evaluations or vaccine effectiveness surveillance that are at play,” she said. “So that’s really important so that we can judge how these vaccines perform in the context of the Canadian population in the field and Canada is a vast country as well so we would ideally like to see that data from across the country.”
As for vaccine hesitancy, research shows that people’s willingness to get inoculated depends on their source of information.
“There’s an interesting piece of data that indicates that people who get their information from social media and from peers and different Facebook groups etcetera are more likely to be vaccine hesitant,” said Dr. Tam. However, those who get information from mainstream media are less likely to be vaccine hesitant.
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