THE government must counter the Covid-19 vaccination myths and address concerns to win over fence-sitters if it wants to achieve herd immunity, said health experts.

It must understand that there are not only anti-vaxxers but also those who are vaccine hesitant, they said.

The latter, they said, are reluctant to get their jabs for several reasons and communication is the key to winning them over.

Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy chief executive officer Azrul Mohd Khalib said it is important to clear the doubts and concerns of those who are hesitant towards the vaccine.

Such people exist in the political and medical sectors, he said.

“We need to distinguish between vaccine-hesitant individuals and the anti-vaxxers.

“Those who are anti-vaxxers may be fundamentally opposed to the concept of vaccines and actively work against vaccination programmes.

“Those who are hesitant are not rejecting the vaccines outright but have doubts and concerns which can be addressed through rational argument, accurate information and presentation of evidence,” Azru told The Malaysian Insight.

While the Covid-19 immunisation programme communication strategy is good, there is still a need to increase the trust between the public and the government, he said.

“The communication strategy now is clear, transparent, not defensive and is open to all manner of questions, however frustrating they may be. This will go a long way towards addressing the concerns and fears of those who are hesitant.

“However, some of the concerns raised are valid and should be addressed. They should not be rubbished or ignored as this could increase a trust deficit between the people and government.

“What can be done is to provide reasonable and rational arguments that are based on science and evidence.”

As for the anti-vaxxers, they would continue to refuse to acknowledge the science, acknowledge the facts and accept reality, he said.

Reaching out

Almost one week after Malaysia started its registration for the Covid-19 vaccination programme, the government agrees that the number us far from the intended target.

So far, fewer than two million people have registered for vaccination while the government aims to inoculate 26.6 million Malaysians, or 80% of the population, to create herd immunity.

Based on data compiled under the ongoing Covid-19 world symptom survey, conducted by Facebook and the University of Maryland in the United States, as of February 6, about 74.39% of respondents from Malaysia are willing to be vaccinated while 20% appear to be hesitant or unsure whether to accept or reject the vaccine.

Public health expert and epidemiologist Prof Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud of Universiti Malaya said it may be difficult to change the minds of anti-vaxxers but the government can reach out to those who display vaccine hesitancy.

The government should engage experts and civil society groups to speak on the issue continuously during the vaccination rollout.

“It may be difficult to change the minds of anti-vaxxers and many of their theories are founded on pseudo-science or conspiracy theories.

“It is those who display vaccine hesitancy who we need to reach out to. In order to do this, we need engagement with the public via a massive communication exercise by communication specialists who are advised by behavioural scientists.

“They should be engaged to understand their reasons for hesitating. We need to communicate with people who display vaccine hesitancy in a transparent, easily understood and in a non-condescending way.”

The government must also reach out to those who are hesitant and the undocumented migrants.

Anti-vaxxers’ pseudoscience

According to Dr Sibrandes Poppema, a specialist in immunopathology and president of Sunway University, anti-vaxxers are not new.

Apart from religious reasons, anti-vaxxers gained ascendency some two-decades ago, when there were links between vaccine and autism.

The link between vaccine and autism became popular after the publication of a fraudulent paper by Andrew Wakefield in The Lancet in 1998.

The paper was retracted in 2010 and Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register.

“There has always been a small group of anti-vaxxers for religious reasons, but the real increase came around the turn of the century when also young, supposedly well-educated people jumped on the bandwagon based on the false autism rumours.

“This group, including a few physicians, created an enormous amount of content on social media that all is evidently untrue, but the sheer amount of it makes some people think that there must be some truth to it.”

There are also some who dispute the existence of the Covid-19 pandemic as well.

Azrul said the number of anti-vaxxers in the country have grown over the years, which could be proven by the drop in measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination among newborns.

“There has always been a kernel of anti-vaxxers in Malaysia which has grown over the past couple of years. Their influence has resulted in an increase in vaccine hesitancy, which was sufficient enough to cause a drop in the MMR vaccination rate among newborns over the past couple of years.

“There are many reasons for this: misplaced and incorrect religious views (e.g. vaccines are haram), pseudoscience (e.g. vaccines cause autism or other disabilities), and general suspicion towards modern science.”

Azrul said the anti-vaxxers have now taken advantage of the fear and uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 public health emergency to push their agenda of undermining the science behind vaccines, and to recruit more people into their circles.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba had said that the government will take action against those who campaign against Covid-19 vaccination. – March 5, 2021.