Minister of Health, Wellness and the Environment, the Hon. St. Clair Prince, during a recent appearance on the Shake Up program, discussed the various reasons why Vincentians have been reluctant to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Minister first spoke about the reluctance of frontline health care workers to take the vaccine and how this could also create doubt in the minds of the general public about the vaccine. He then goes on to speak on the other possible reasons for the hesitance of the general public to take the vaccine.
“I think there are other reasons, religious reasons, political reasons; I’ve heard people say to my face that they don’t want Ralph vaccine, so there are political reasons too. There are some people who just believe in conspiracy theories, they believe every little thing they hear on social media; they may hear 500 stories about good the vaccine is, how effective it is or how efficacious it is, but they would know these 500 stories and believe the one story that says that someone got some side effect that they couldn’t deal with, and they run with that one.” He said.
The Health Minister made mention of those on radio and social media whose comments have been a detriment to nation’s vaccination campaign.
“There are people on radio and on social media who have taken up the task of being influencers; and they go on and they talk and they talk and they talk, and I’m saying to myself, and this is a personal thing; if somebody dies as a result of heeding your advice to not take it, are you responsible to some extent?” he said.
According to the latest information from the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment’s COVID-19 update dashboard, total vaccines administered stand at 25,603, with 15,711 persons having received their first dose and 9,892 have received their second.
