The government’s plans to vaccinate 60% of the population in 2021 to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 could hit a roadblock as citizens dig in their heels, saying they will not get inoculated out of fear that it will be harmful to their health or is part of a sinister conspiracy.
With the government caught flat-footed by the speed at which the vaccine arrived, there has been little to no information given to the public on the development of Covid-19 vaccines, the safety protocols involved and how they are being manufactured.
The result has been an explosion of misinformation, with many people already decided that they will avoid the vaccine, and doubts articulated by politicians and other prominent leaders adding fuel to the fire.
Chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng was among the first to cast aspersions about Covid-19 vaccines when he prayed against any “vaccine of the devil” during a visit to Tembisa Hospital in December. ANC councillors and politicians have circulated damaging messages claiming there will be separate vaccines for blacks and whites.
And the Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union, whose members are nurses, nursing educators, nursing students and porters, said their members were wary of being part of a “trial and error” situation and called for a boycott.
Over the past week, Business Day spoke to many South Africans at taxi ranks, in the streets and at workplaces to find out why they do not want to take the vaccine.
5G conspiracy
Popular conspiracies include a devilish plot involving the rollout of 5G technology with the vaccine implanting microchips into people’s arms, aimed at culling the world’s population. Another is that it is a plot by white people, who have already received the real vaccine, to kill black people.
But many simply feel they do not have the information they need to make a decision and that there has not been enough time to gauge the possible side effects of vaccination.
Security guard Mbali Mncube, 38, said: “We must be given a choice to choose between taking the vaccine or not. There must be no blanket approach just because the government wants to achieve herd immunity.”
Mncube said she would not take the vaccine because of what she had read on social media about people dying after being inoculated.
“The government must set the record straight on this vaccine issue because there is a lot of misinformation. We end up not knowing what to believe.”
Self-employed Braza Khuzwayo, 29, said he would not get inoculated because he does not trust the vaccine and the government’s silence has been deafening on whether it is safe to be immunised against Covid-19.
Bar tender TK Khumalo, 32, said he was sceptical of the vaccines because of what has been said on social media and wanted them tested on President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet and all the front-line workers first.
Vegetable seller Kate Moyo, 56, said she would not get inoculated because she knows nothing about the vaccines. “Why must I be injected with a substance I know nothing about? Nurses themselves are saying they won’t take the vaccine, so where does that leave us?”
Store-owner Feven Mebrhatu, 38, said she would not get vaccinated because she hates injections. “Look, I think a vaccine is a good thing but I won’t get it because I don’t like needles.”
Anti-vaxxers in SA
According to a new Ipsos survey conducted in partnership with the World Economic Forum, only 53% of South Africans said they would get a shot to protect them from being infected with Covid-19.
This ranks SA among countries in which citizens exhibit the lowest intention to get inoculated against the coronavirus, such as France (40%) and Russia (43%). Conversely, citizens of countries such as Brazil (78%), Australia (75%), and Canada (71%), exhibit a relatively high intention to get vaccinated.
Car guard Themba Sana Mbhele, 42, said he would take the vaccine because thousands of people had been killed by the coronavirus in SA, but he wanted it to be an easy process. “The vaccination process must be easy; they must not make us fill in forms and so on,” he said.
Social media is awash with SA anti-vaxxers.
@morwamoafrica said: “Vaccination of 40-million SA citizens within a year it is too risky, no-one knows the long-time side effects of the vaccine, what about the worst case scenario where there is problem.”
@MmatjieM wrote: “I think we need a petition to stop the Covid-19 vaccine testing nonsense and 5G not only in SA but [in] Africa as a whole. This is a risk to all of us.”
@LesWaldeck posted: “SA, the New World Order is coming for you soon … deadly, gene-editing, nanotech-laden, sterilising “vaccination” at gunpoint. Their mass-murder weapons: 1. Covid-19, 2. ‘Vaccine’ from hell, 3. 5G radiation. Name your poison.”
In a description of the problem, popular account @Sentletse remarked: “World leaders are getting Covid vaccine and then you have some insignificant Jabulani believing that pharmaceutical companies want to kill him.”
Awareness campaign
The government, which has mostly been scrambling to access vaccines after a poor start, is also lagging in the public discussion. A mass public awareness campaign would be launched by the department of health, said government spokesperson Phumla Williams and national health department spokesperson Popo Maja.
While some cabinet ministers have voiced their concerns over the misinformation, their opinions have not gained much traction.
The most outspoken popular advocate of vaccination has been opposition politician Julius Malema, who said vaccines are inevitable and a “necessary intervention in defeating Covid-19”.
Khaya Xaba, spokesperson for the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, the biggest union in the sector, said they were encouraging their members to get vaccinated and called on the government to drive a concerted public awareness campaign.
Health expert Dr Francois Venter, deputy executive director of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, said if leaders such as Ramaphosa stepped “right in the front of the queue” to get vaccinated, that could help put people at ease about the vaccines.
“The government must be clear on its awareness campaign because people need to have confidence in what they are being told. The government has not been transparent about the vaccines. You need to build confidence and answer questions people have, such as why you are using the vaccines, are they safe and are they effective,” he said.
Low levels of trust and negative emotional messaging has added to the toxic mix of denialism.
Wellbeing economists Prof Talita Greyling from the University of Johannesburg and Dr Stephanié Rossouw from the Auckland University of Technology said it was important to frame messages about vaccines in a positive manner.
“The positive outcome of a vaccine should be emphasised, which can increase the emotions of joy and hope. Moreover, an earnest appeal should be made to all community, religious, labour union and political leaders to enforce these positive emotions.”
Anti-vaccine groups tend to use negative emotional appeals in their campaigns, and the academics called on the government to counterbalance the negative emotions with positive emotional appeals, “so that mistrust, racism, xenophobia and exposure to misinformation is limited”.
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