People who oppose vaccination won’t be swayed by statistics. To convince them, it is necessary to share real-life experiences and stories with which they will identify.
If COVID-19 becomes endemic, we’ll see multiple local outbreaks. Schools and businesses will close for days because too many people are sick. Local hospitals will be overwhelmed without warning.
As lockdowns ease and those who are double-vaccinated gain extra freedoms, we’re likely to see a greater divide between the rich, who tend to have higher vaccination rates, and the poor.
NSW and Victoria have taken different approaches on allowing unvaccinated people in places of worship, indicating the possibility for conflicting and confusing rules across the country.
A growing body of research shows that nutrition, sleep, exercise and a host of other lifestyle choices can help optimize the immune system. But they are no substitute for life-saving vaccines.
Until vaccination rates in the country’s most vulnerable groups are much higher, elimination remains the best way to avoid repeating the mistakes of history.
At the beginning of 2020, most people hadn’t used the word ‘pandemic’ before. Now it’s time to understand the term ‘endemic’ and find out what to expect when COVID changes shape.
An FDA panel has voted against recommending approval of a booster COVID-19 shot for the general population – disappointing some public health officials.
Many Aboriginal community controlled health services are already running urgent vaccination campaigns within their existing resources, but more needs to be done.
Ethics should be the first consideration on vaccine policy – ahead of purely medical advice and politics. But the considerations are many and they are complex.
Subtly shifting the crafting and delivery of public health messaging on COVID-19 vaccines could go a long way toward persuading many of the unvaccinated to get the shot.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand