SA vaccine opposition gains momentum

VACCINATION in South Africa is not compulsory, but every citizen is expected to adhere to preventive measures such as wearing a mask, physical distance, cleaning of hands regularly, sufficient fresh air and avoiding crowded spaces.

This is the word from the national Health Department in reaction to the growing number of countries where citizens say they will not take the Covid19 vaccine should it become available.

Health Department spokesperson Popo Maja stressed that no one will be vaccinated without being registered.

“The government has embarked on mass communication to encourage and educate citizens about the importance of vaccination as a pillar of public health and well-being. It is well documented how mass vaccination has saved societies,” he said.

But South Africa is not the only country where the chorus of vaccine opposition is growing.

The BBC will today air

on its World Service at 6.30am SAST and Sunday, April 4, at 8.30pm SAST.

The series investigates how “hardcore anti-vaccine activists around the world have used social media to spread their message far and wide, capitalising on fear and mistrust to advance their own agendas during the pandemic”.

Author of the

Jonathan Griffin said recent surveys show there’s rising vaccine scepticism in South Africa.

But even before

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pandemic started, the Rainbow Nation was battling a tide of anti-vax misinformation online.

explores how the anti-vaccine movement has manifested across the world, from France – portrayed as one of the most vaccine-sceptic countries in the world – to India and Germany.

“The series will turn the spotlight on the world’s social media giants asking whether they turned a blind eye, or just acted too late in countering misinformation about vaccines.

“It will also look at more traditional sources of information – journalists, governments, and health officials – and ask whether they simply weren’t ready for the ‘infodemic’ that was to come with the virus,” said Griffin.

He said while it’s hard or even impossible, to say how many anti-vax groups exist on social media around the world, it is safe to say they number at least in the millions.

Griffin and his team found more than 350 anti-vaccine Instagram accounts, Facebook groups and Facebook pages in English alone.

Griffin said of those English-language groups, pages and accounts, they found that by the end of last year the Instagram accounts had more than 4 million followers, the Facebook groups and pages had more than 5 million.

In both cases those were substantial increases throughout the pandemic.

In the case of the Instagram accounts – they grew fourfold. There were also other big jumps on Twitter.

The Anti-Vax Files