Footnotes on vaccine opposition.
By: Cj Engelbrecht
Tags: Covid19 Crisis, Prevention Of Coronavirus, Public Health, Healthcare, Vaccines

Footnotes on vaccine opposition.

Trying to quell anti vaccine activism by reiterating public health and safety concerns are wasted on the converted, and more than likely to convince those who are undecided or apprehensive to oppose the intervention regardless of the imperative. As people change their perspective from popular convention to belligerent belief, refute public health and safety concerns, and defy scientific facts with unfounded assumptions and irrational arguments.

The resistance to vaccination is by no means news and no different than the anti- condom trend that still plague public health efforts in the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In the Masibambisane campaign of the SANDF the approach that was followed to break through the quagmire of religious morals and satisfy the staggering diversity of cultures and social values that existed at the time were to disregard the rhetoric, and focus instead on personal health and empowering people with knowledge about themselves, building interpersonal skills, and creating a shared understanding of the behavior of others and the larger community, regardless of culture, creed or cast.

The lore that adversity dissipate to a fresh perspective may well be as old as antiquity, but it’s just as relevant to the Covid19 mask and global lockdown controversy as it is to the the growing anti vaccination trend.

As a retired public health official my concern with the mounting opposition against vaccination has more to do with the outrage, condemnation, and treat which we know only serves to strengthen their resolve and harden the conviction that they believe.

Without any foreseeable means to address the underlying stress, fear and anxiety that caused them to doubt what they know and fear what they believe has been the bane of the public health community since it's inception, and we know that trying to change the folly of high risk behaviour by reminding them of their responsibility towards the 'greater good of mankind' is as futile as convincing them of the evidence is moot.

To only way to change the points of view that refute the planned public health intervention is to identify the common clause that inform the belligerent behaviour and address the lapse of reason from a common perspective and a mutual understanding of the relevance their bevaviour has on the outcome of the intervention. Finding common ground among such widely disparate global narratives may seem like a impossible dream but the benefits conceivably outweighs the cost, and the resources spent on the effort will be a investment in global tolerance and self empowerment regardless if we succeed.

Since we have conclusive proof that berated condemnation and disavowal of vested interests are guarenteed to fail, and we know that there is a reasonable means to mitigate the I'll concieved resolve with the added advantage of bonafide incentives that are independent of the anticipated outcome, choosing the status quo would amount to a travesty of injustice and a lost opportunity to radically redress our trust in the present we share intent in sense and mutual relevance, wherever, whenever, whatever wherewithal or circumstance we find ourselves.