Ever since the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in T&T in March 2020, regular news conferences to update citizens on developments with the pandemic have been the most visible element of the public health strategy.
These briefings, held daily at first, now take place three times weekly, and now include Saturday afternoon sessions chaired by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
However, the country is now at the stage, with the expected ramping up of the vaccination programme in the next few weeks, to explore other methods of raising public awareness.
Pockets of misinformation and ignorance must be tackled with more innovative messaging that reaches the people who don’t get their news from traditional sources.
Now that it has been confirmed that approximately 200,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines will arrive from the African Medical Supply Platform (AMSP) in mid-July, with another 400,000 next month and 500,000 in September efforts must be made to encourage vaccine acceptance.
There is also a huge tranche of Sinopharm vaccines from China due to arrive shortly and in anticipation of this steadier supply, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh announced plans to vaccinate 300,000 more people in the coming weeks.
However, mass vaccination plans can be derailed by the steady stream of untruths being spread rapidly by social media and word of mouth. At the grassroots level, this misinformation is gaining traction and threatens to erode the high level of vaccine acceptance seen so far.
At this stage in T&T’s fight against COVID-19, with the number of new infections and deaths declining slowly but steadily, there is a race to get enough people vaccinated for herd immunity and escape new variants that are potentially more contagious and deadly.
Of immediate concern is the Delta variant which has surfaced in nearby islands. That variant, which originated in India, is affecting mostly people who are unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated.
A study in the United Kingdom shows that a single dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, one of the brands administered locally, reduces the risk of developing symptoms from the Delta variant by 33 per cent.
But that information isn’t getting through to the people who being misled by anti-vax myths about deaths from the vaccine.
They are not paying attention to the data shared several times a week by epidemiologist Dr Amery Hinds and other public health officials with all those impressive graphs and charts. They are more likely to listen to or read and share dire warnings from “experts” on social media.
These are the people who need to be reached. The ones who are still ignorant of the fact that every hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 is preventable if they get vaccinated.
So, it is time to go hard and fast with a “Get Vaccinated” public education campaign, using popular culture and local personalities to debunk the anti-vax lies. Partnerships with the private sector might be worthwhile here are they have proven to be in other areas of the vaccination programme.
To do nothing, or to stick with the current press conference approach of sharing pandemic information makes room for vaccine hesitancy to take hold.
With lives and livelihoods at risk that is something that should not be allowed to happen at this critical stage in our COVID fight.