Impediment down the Covid-19 vaccine road: Not anti-vaxxers but vaccine-hesitant are the challenge

Vaccine hesitant are the challenge: Good news is that we have two potentially successful vaccines for Covid-19. But does that settle the ongoing challenges related to coronavirus pandemic? Not really. The hurdle down the road is to get the vaccine available to people on a large scale, more so to the people who oppose it – anti-vaxxers. Vaccine-hesitant are another set of people who are precariously hesitant and doubtful of the new vaccine of a still mysterious virus. Getting the Covid-19 vaccine to this particular group of people might prove to be most challenging. 

Last week Pfizer-BioNTech declared its vaccine efficacy as 90% and this week Moderna vaccine was announced to be 95% efficient during trials, raising the hopes with most anticipated news for months now. Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine should soon follow the suit with its efficiency reports along with other global vaccine candidates. 

The next big task in hand is to persuade people get vaccination done with whatever is available to them. This can be harder than anticipated as the anti-vaxxers have been spreading the ‘sentiments’ against the vaccine and its need online. But what really is giving the vaccine developers and health professionals across the globe nightmare is the ‘vaccine-hesitant’ group of people. 

These people comprise of many sub-groups. The first group that is of concern is older people, who usually belong to minor ethnic backgrounds. These people are hesitant to visit a doctor and also prove tough task to be approached by immunisers. They can however be persuaded by religious leaders. 

Second group of people are the research squad – they believe to have mastered the in-and-out of the virus. They believe in natural alternatives to medicine and have already consumed bulks of them, like Vitamin D. They support in healing planet and are appalled by President Trump’s anti-mask vendetta and bleach ramblings. They are pro-mask but negate the idea of vaccine. But hearing ministers and climate warriors support vaccine administration can make them change their mind. 

Experts say that about 7% of people would be the ones who would most definitely refuse to take a Covid vaccine. These vaccine hesitant people are easily swayed and tilted by any piece of information they come across on internet. 

The fact that most endangered and susceptible people to get infected with the infection are the one most excited about taking the vaccine, is where all hopes are relied. This is the way true herd immunity will be reached – mass immunization. Persuading the family members, especially children, older generation and people with pre-existing conditions is everyone’s responsibility in this global crisis. The long road ahead can be quickly measured if people get vaccinated and believe in science.