Getting vaccinated is an act of trust
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to some hard things for us all. Lockdowns, shut borders and families being separated. Many people have lost loved ones, and people in our health system are tied up managing it and keeping it out. Vaccinations are getting rolled out and when as many of us who can get vaccinated do get vaccinated we can start to leave Covid-19 behind.
This desire to move on from Covid-19 is partly what makes false information about vaccination so frustrating. When people who can get vaccinated don’t because they believe false information it makes me pretty mad at the vaccine deniers.
Unfortunately, false information, and why people believe it, is quite hard to fix in the short-term. The good news is that there are other things that influence people getting vaccinated that we can do something about.
Knowing what drives hesitation helps us figure out how to support people. Personal and social drivers play a big role – for example, a person’s experience with healthcare.
Context matters too, as well as what influential people in our community think, say and do about science, vaccination and health, the communication and media environment, and historical influences. Then there are vaccination-specific issues like how easy it is to get, what it costs and the way it is delivered.
This last one is why making it as easy as possible for people to get vaccinated is surprisingly effective.
Most of us intend to get vaccinated, eventually. We may have some hesitations, but also hold good intentions about vaccination (‘‘Oh I’ll get one, I’ll just wait and see for a bit’’).
Making sure we have a reliable supply of the vaccine, making vaccines free and very easy to get (vaccinations everywhere for everyone), regularly reminding people to get their vaccine, and letting them know it will be delivered by someone they trust, works very well to get them over the line.
Normalising vaccination is also effective. When we see people we trust from our own communities – people who can speak to our own life experiences – recommend getting vaccinations, we are much more inclined to get vaccinated also.
This is working already. Research shows only 9 per cent of Pacific people are now unsure about vaccinations, compared with 32 per cent in March, and 79 per cent say they have already been vaccinated, or are likely to get vaccinated. This is partly to do with the work Pacific communities are leading – providing the proof people most need: seeing and hearing trusted people in their community getting vaccinated.
Getting vaccinated is an act of trust. Trust in the scientific processes that led to the development of vaccination, trust in people organising and giving it. If people experience negative treatment, being belittled, embarrassed, dismissed, ignored, at the hands of medical professionals, or people in government more widely, they won’t trust those representing that system, or their vaccinations.
In such cases, facts and data about vaccination won’t rebuild this trust. How people in our institutions act will.
It’s a good reminder for people in governments and healthcare institutions that encouraging Covid19 vaccination now means being a good partner to all its citizens all the time. It’s something science philosopher Sheila Jasanoff calls using the technologies of humility. It just so happens that this is work that will help with many of the big challenges we still face where trust in science and the people who use it is going to be incredibly important.