Vaccine disinformation beats govt’s weak communication strategy

With South Africa showing signs of some people being reluctant to vaccinate against Covid-19, government’s communications strategy appears not to be strong enough to counter the growing wave of massive disinformation on social media.

Against the background of the department of health having squandered R150 million in the controversially awarded Digital Vibes Covid -19 communications contract, which led to the resignation of Dr Zweli Mkhize as health minister, Covid-19 communication gaps have become evident.

Khanyi Madlala, executive director of Zoe PR Communications, said: “There should have been an educational programme to educate society about the vaccine – what it is, responding to questions about efficacy and whether it is safe to take the vaccine.”

“Not to forget, there has been mistrust between government and the people on the vaccine, people tending not to trust what government is bringing to the fore.”

“I think there would really have been a need for a robust public relations campaign, community education on the campaign on why people should vaccinate and where they should register.”

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“If government needs to vaccinate as many people as possible, there needs to be massive education and as transparently as possible,” said Madlala.

Chris Vick, chairperson of nonprofit organisation Covid Comms, which aims to build understanding of Covid, said: “There is a definite problem of vaccine hesitancy, which seems to be misinformed by a misunderstanding or misinformation.”

“What is easier to deal with is hesitancy and what is difficult to deal with is vaccination resistance,” explained Vick.

“Fortunately, the level of vaccination resistance is much smaller than the level of vaccination hesitancy. Our work is dealing with people who are hesitant about vaccination and understanding why they are hesitant. “Is it because of long queues or is because of rushed vaccination.”

“We have to understand that people are reluctant for a reason. We have to understand what is behind that reluctance, to say to them that the vaccine has been tested numerous times, and that the technology of developing these vaccines is not new – been around for 10 to 12 years.”

“Therefore, the risk of taking the vaccine is much lower than the risk that comes with not taking the vaccine. In terms of disinformation, one gets a sense that there is an active disinformation campaign going on. We don’t know why but… it does not matter how much science or medical evidence you put in front of them, they just don’t want to get vaccinated, which is really unfortunate.”

“The need for vaccination cannot be overemphasised – we have to protect ourselves. It is important to vaccinate to prevent death but it also improves our immunity as a community. Yesterday (Friday) Health Minister Joe Phaahla revealed that 60% of South African women have been vaccinated compared to 40% of men.”

Health deputy director-general Nicholas Crisp said: “Every province has lost momentum, the slowing down and drop of vaccinations on a daily basis is something we need to pick up as a nation if we are going to protect ourselves and keep people out of hospital. There will be a fourth wave, we have no doubt. We don’t know when, we don’t know how severe and we don’t know which variant.”

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“But we need to protect ourselves by vaccinating. Men are not being vaccinated at the same rate as women, across all age groups. This means men are going to end up very sick and in hospital,” said Crisp.

Meanwhile, Jacques du Plessis, managing director of Netcare’s hospital division, expressed Netcare’s disappointment and disbelief in learning about the publication of a BitChute video in which Dr Susan Vosloo expressed her personal anti-vaccination views regarding Covid.

“The sentiments as expressed in the contents of the video are in complete contradiction to the unrelenting endeavours of Netcare.”

“The video further contradicted the views and endeavours of the department of health, as well as those of some global institutions such as the World Health Organisation.”

“Nevertheless, we have full regard for the fact that as a medical professional, Dr Vosloo is an independent practitioner and that as an individual she is fully entitled to her own views,” said Du Plessis.

– brians@citizen.co.za