I’ll borrow Dr. Brenda Corcoran‘s words to try and bring this down to the simplest understanding
“An expression of concern or doubt about the value or safety of vaccination”
I will ask you this
Have you ever heard of vaccine hesitancy?
Personally, I only got to know about it, some weeks
On one Monday, I think
And it was my friend that shared with me on Whatsapp about it….
Something to do with the anti-vaxxer movement
Same thing for that movement, too
Had never heard of it before
Have you been vaccinated before?
With your own consent or not?
Young or old?
Do you have any beliefs about vaccination?
Have you ever had some before now?
How did it feel like?
I hope we are on the same page here….there is vaccination rejection and vaccination hesitancy
With rejection of vaccination comes
Complete total rejection of vaccines
High safety concerns about vaccination
Lack of trust in the health care provider
And mostly of course, you are not immunized
With hesitancy of vaccination, on the other hand, comes
With being selective about which vaccines you take
Desire in trustworthy health care providers only
A delay in getting immunized with a lot of questions here and there, of course
And mostly of course, one is under-immunized
The women walked in or arranged lifts on the back of motorbikes many holding umbrellas to protect their babies from the intense heat of the sun.
When I looked closely at this
And tried to put some memory to it
I saw a number of factors that could lead to somebody turning out to be vaccine-hesitant
Like….past experiences
Income
Knowledge about vaccines
Level of education
Race or where we are from
Others, you may say… our perception of the safety of the vaccines
Our perception of the efficiency of the vaccines
Our perception and understanding of how easily disease can catch up with us, even after being immunized
Perhaps, these can count too… the media
Policies at all levels
Social norms and values
The relationship between a patient and the provider
Requirements for one to be immunized at school, may be
How about lack in confidence?
Or plainly not seeing the need or urgency in getting immunized
Or plain lack of access….say in the “developing world”
Call it what you may but this is real
It is happening today
And it is everywhere
Do something about it