Informed health workers best placed to deal with vaccine hesitancy

The arrival of the first batch of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine brought hope after a difficult 2020.

After a slow start, President Uhuru Kenyatta led the country in getting the Covid-19 jab as other leaders followed suit, which opened the floodgates.

The place of leadership in directing populations towards public health education cannot be overemphasized.

The Health ministry has rolled out a three-phased vaccination. In the first phase, February-June 2021, 1.25 million health workers, security and immigration officials will be vaccinated.

In the second and third phases, from July 2021 to June 2022, nearly 10 million will be immunised. They will comprise those aged over 50 and over 18, but with underlying health conditions.

The third wave has made the need for vaccination even more urgent. The country has previously mobilised vaccination against deadly diseases such as polio, measles, smallpox, and diphtheria, and even eliminated most of them.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 inoculation has faced numerous hurdles, just like others before it; mostly vaccine hesitancy.

Practical tips for addressing hesitancy include starting early, presenting vaccination as the default approach, building trust, being honest about side effects, providing reassurance on a robust vaccine safety system, and addressing pain.

Vaccine-hesitant parents who sit on the fence far outnumber vaccine refusers; therefore, counseling this group is more effective. Reasons behind vaccine hesitancy are complex and encompass more than just knowledge deficit. As a trusted source of information on vaccines, family physicians play a key role in driving vaccine acceptance.

It is important to assess the source of vaccine information, which must be trusted sources. Research shows that people who receive information about vaccination from their physicians are likely to accept vaccination. As such it will be beneficial for the government to continuously provide health workers with more information so that they can in turn pass it to their circles of influence. 

Vaccines undergo a rigorous process to ensure their safety. Kenya was involved through the Kenya Vaccine Initiative, which is the body mandated to approve vaccines.

People are always concerned about potential side effects of vaccines, and need assurance that they are manageable.

-Prof Kiptoo is CEO at the Kenya Medical Training College