Coronavirus: developing a vaccine is one problem to solve, getting people to use it is another

Vaccination hesitancy may harm the chances of reopening communities

Medical experts say rapid vaccine development is causing public anxiety but wide-scale immunisation may be the only route back to a safe society

Reading Time:4 minutes

Medical and public health experts are keen for people to overcome vaccination hesitancy for communities to reopen. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:00am, 19 Aug 2020Updated: 9:33am, 19 Aug 2020

Shanghai mother Julia Wei has been closely following Covid-19 vaccine development updates. As a frequent business traveller, she believes an effective vaccine will be the key to a return to social and economic normalcy.

Yet as progress is made – four out of seven candidates developed in China are being tested for broader safety and efficacy before they can get regulatory approval – Wei said she and her six-year-old daughter would be unlikely to voluntarily get a Covid-19 jab. The public has been told a vaccine might be available as soon as the end of this year, or early next year.

“I read that vaccine development usually takes years, but for Covid-19 it’s only several months. This is just too fast – I don’t want to be a guinea pig,” Wei said. “I will just wait until we know for absolutely sure that they are safe and effective.”

Wei is not opposed to vaccines. She has had her daughter inoculated with free government vaccines as well as some that are not part of China’s immunisation programme that Wei believed were necessary.

But concerns such as Wei’s are casting a shadow over vaccination and its potential to reopen society or allow the community to reach “herd immunity” – the concept that enough people in a population are immune to a disease that transmission becomes unlikely.

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