Enhance awareness of vaccine

Our neighbours south of the border are steadily reporting a surge in “acute pneumonia”. To the trained and untrained eye, it is an open secret that the chickens of Covid-19 denial have come home to roost.

On the other hand, Kenya approved the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. Kenyans online have used the contrasting developments to lampoon the strategy, or lack thereof, of our neighbours, Tanzanians.

However, our own storm is yet to pass.

It is one thing to approve a vaccine and a different ballgame altogether to get the jabs into arms. A case in point, United Kingdom has one of the highest uptakes of the Covid-19 vaccine yet it’s riddled with anti-vaxxers’ — people who are opposed to the administering of vaccines. They believe that the jab is the biblical ‘mark of the beast’ and tracking device.

Conspiracy theories

The conspiracy theories are in constant supply. And they range from the plain stupid to the incandescently outrageous.

These connivance speculations are fanned and spread by internet power . It’s easier to convince netizens of the existence of a parallel universe than it is to have them believe in the science behind vaccination. This is why the Ministry of Health needs to not only up their game, but also to play a different sport.

Data from the ministry shows the routine immunisations for children still suffer resistance. Some Kenyans may not have the internet, but they subscribe to dangerous cults and traditions that make them shun modern medicine. This is where public health education and awareness creation come in.

Right to consent

Distributing vaccines only to have them expire in the cold chain will be counterintuitive. One of the rights of a patient is the right to consent. People must consent for nurses to inject these lifesaving shots. But they will not consent to what they don’t know. This is the time for public education.

The education is not only targeted at wananchi, but to healthcare workers as well. Top in this list is nurses.

These jabs will be administered by nurses and, speaking as one, I would not give to my patients what I cannot explain.

The ministry ought to diversify its approach by not only sourcing for the vaccines and short-circuiting the red tape, but also coming up with rapid response initiatives to teach healthcare workers. When healthcare workers know the facts and don’t rely on Google and rumours from the websites, you are teaching the nation.

Efforts have borne fruit

It has been through intensive one-on-one and community teaching programmes that primary healthcare providers have been able to capture unimmunised children. These efforts have borne fruit by eliminating polio from the country. It has been a collective effort with education as the bottom line.

When the charity Rotary International in Kenya took up and personalised the polio campaign, it was from a point of knowledge and understanding. It got to comprehend how the vaccine works and to whom it should be administered and any potential side-effects. That is how you improve the health, and the wealth too, of a nation.

Creating awareness cannot be enforced through curfews and fines. It needs a cool, calm and collected approach. The speeches by leaders must herald a change in attitude towards vaccination. The same internet that has been used to conjure and distribute tales of perfidy and duplicity must be used to raise awareness of the vaccine.

Misinformation

The ministry must realise that most Kenyans are now addicted to their little boxes of illuminated lights as they tap away at different keys. The consumption of misinformation is at an all-time high. We cannot beat it if we do not offer an alternative.

Other than tweet one-liners about the vaccine, let the ministry teach, and then contract, young and credible social media users and show them how to spread the gospel of Covid-19 vaccination. It calls for planning and meticulous execution.

It has been demonstrated that young people are excellent super spreaders of Covid-19. The same youth are more likely to believe social media influencers than they would a scientific body.

Speaking in their language — the social media language — will, therefore, impact on their attitude towards the vaccination.

Herd immunity

Covid-19 vaccination must cover at least 90 per cent of the population for us to boast of any herd immunity whatsoever. We need the immunity if we are to safely trade with Covid-denying neighbours and friends. Never has the economy been divorced from health and wellbeing. The economic recovery and prosperity of our nation depends on how well we react to the pandemic response.

All these are great things to do. However, we are not known for sensible disaster preparedness programmes. We live on hope and, when issues hit the rotor blades, we scramble for knee-jerk reactions.

Ms Maina is a United Kingdom-registered nurse and a BScN student at the University of Derby, England. [email protected].

Kennedy Chesoli’s column will resume after a fortnight.