Research on vaccine hesitancy needed, says BAMP head

If the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is to come even close to its goal of achieving 80 per cent herd immunity against COVID-19 within the region, by the end of 2021, it will first need to find out the reason behind vaccine hesitancy.

That is the view of president of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP), Dr Lynda Williams, who believes qualitative research is needed to get to the bottom of the situation.

At the conclusion of the 42nd Regular Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Governments on Tuesday, CARICOM chairman Gaston Browne reported that a decision had been taken that the regional grouping would try to achieve 80 per cent herd immunity by yearend.

The Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister admitted there were concerns about vaccine hesitancy, but said governments had agreed that they would not make immunization mandatory. Instead, he said, they would launch a “very strong and robust public education programme aimed at encouraging persons to get vaccinated”.

However, in an interview with Barbados TODAY, Dr Williams said that in order to sway people to get inoculated it was necessary to know why they were hesitant to do so in the first place.

“We will have to do some form of research to figure out what the causes of the hesitancy are in people who have not yet been vaccinated…. If we saw it uptick quickly and then we see a slowing of the rate then we have to figure out why is the rate slowing, what is the cause of the decrease in uptake,” she said.

“Nobody has that information, nobody has that data. So, if in the Caribbean they want to address it then they also have to look at what are the reasons why Caribbean people are not taking it because we can’t base it on what we think, we have to base it on what we know and then address the specific concerns that people have.”

Dr Williams added: “We want to find out how many people are hesitant about taking it up and then we need to know why. So, if they do that kind of research and then address those specific concerns, then maybe we will get to 80 per cent.”
(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)