Vaccine hesitancy can be beaten

This past week, SA was reporting an average of 12 000 new Covid infections a day. The official death toll from the pandemic is hovering around the 80 000 mark.

“Pandemic weariness” has beaten down most of the population to the point that these figures do not mean anything any more. People seem to have resigned themselves to this horrible new normal, forgetting that it is not normal to have soccer, rugby and cricket played in front of empty seats.

It has now been accepted that museums, cinemas, churches and theatres simply cannot host the events they used to.

Musicians, performing artists, motivational speakers and anyone whose income depends on bums on seats have been rendered unemployed for almost a year and a half.

Not being able to visit loved ones in hospital is a reality. But the most gruesome reality is that ever-looming spectre of the sudden death of a loved one without much of a warning.

And yet, in the midst of such doom and gloom, there are people who, when offered a chance to free the country of this debilitating grip, refuse to.

The excitement that everyone above the age of 18 can now receive the vaccine hides the fact that vaccine hesitancy means the most vulnerable didn’t respond well to the call to vaccinate.

The elderly and those living with comorbidities did not turn up at vaccination centres but instead of focusing on getting rid of vaccine hesitancy, the government has opted for the easy victory of boosting vaccination figures by letting the least vulnerable section of the population receive the jab.

It is old news that the Digital Vibes scandal robbed the country of a chance that a dedicated public relations company could have been at the forefront of promoting vaccination.

A government that wants to see a return to some semblance of normality should, by now, have devised ways and means to get every possible media platform promoting vaccination.

If ever there was a time to overpay sports stars, television personalities and social media influencers to punt vaccination, it is now.

It is all well and good to point fingers at the developed nations about their short-sighted and very selfish actions of hogging and stockpiling vaccines when the rest of the underdeveloped world still hasn’t even vaccinated a tenth of their citizens but those nations must take responsibility for the wellbeing of their own citizens.

There are many things that the developed countries can be blamed for in what continues to go wrong in underdeveloped countries, but getting South Africans to vaccination centres is not one of them.

The government must remind citizens what it feels like to live in a normal country. There is some consensus among scientists that full herd immunity is likely not going to be achieved for Covid because of how fast it mutates and new variants emerge.

But a reasonable level of protection against death and severe illness has been shown to be provided through the vaccine.

People need to be reminded that with that protection comes the Comrades Marathon, the Soweto Marathon, a proper graduation party and normal hospital visits to comfort loved ones.

It is not too late for the government to change mindsets about vaccines. Lives can still be saved.