Global Vaccination Hesitancy! Unfavourable news about the vaccine continues to be ignored or slighted!

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

My first question is, how tired are you of this pandemic? It has gotten to the point now that if you mention it, people just roll their eyes. I don’t wrong them at all. I’ve written a lot about the virus and its vaccines, and I have been wondering: why do some people not want to get vaccinated? What are their concerns? Where do they get their information, and how do they argue their case?

The portrayal of vaccination in the media has always been a controversial issue. When a new vaccination program – like the COVID-19 rollout — makes the news, the mainstream media often find themselves accused of ignoring the evidence in favour of scaremongering reports, distortion of facts, or being bought and paid for by government institutions.

In the last five to ten years, there has been a rise in purportedly more ‘respectable’ publications that claim to show unbiased coverage and factual or statistical evidence, but these are often incompatible with the more popular reporting from mainstream news and the tabloid press.

It is easy to create cliques, choose sides, and to want to shut off the television altogether. We are presented with this on-going, contradictory reportage and it has become difficult for media consumers to have objective opinions, particularly if they are bombarded with opinions, thoughts, rhetoric, propaganda, and science from so many sources.

It is no controversial statement to declare that the mainstream media (and particularly tabloid press) may have a tendency to exaggerate claims or even embellish the truth. The coverage that the MMR vaccine received in the late 1990’s and turn of the century became the subject of a huge national debate with a fall-out, which still exists today.

Mainstream media continues to push the vaccine initiatives that they are directed to without question. It seems that the unfavourable news of the vaccine continues to be ignored or slighted. I read thousands of reports a week about some of the horrible experiences people have had after taking the vaccine. These stories range from drastic changes with a woman’s menstrual cycle, to more serious stories including death. The more I see them ignoring this information, the more that I want to share it.

This week, I want to highlight the fact that although the Canadian government continues to campaign for higher vaccination, there are countries that in the last few months have halted their vaccination programs. I also want to share with you that there are countries that are fully functioning with very low vaccination rates, and also there is news that has come up concerning alterations to the vaccine. Of course, you won’t see much of this in mainstream media, and for good reason.

There are countries around the world that have paused the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigators look into cases of blood clots among vaccinated people. The WHO also said it hadn’t found a link between the vaccine and clots, and urged countries to keep inoculating with the shot.

Denmark

In April of this year news came out of Denmark about the vaccine being banned for those under 50 years old as studies and data were revealed proving the shocking level of danger caused by the vaccination. Denmark became the first country to halt their vaccination program, saying it did so because the virus was under control.

At that time, around 81% of Denmark’s 5.8 million inhabitants had received two doses of the vaccine and 61.6% had also received a booster. Denmark noted a drop in the number of new infections and stable hospitalization rates.

Norway

Norwegian officials also suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The Norwegian Medicines Agency investigated whether there was a connection between AstraZeneca’s vaccine and blood clots in the lung, and whether there were cases of blood clots in vaccinated people that had not yet been reported.

Ireland

Ireland suspended the use of the shot after receiving a safety alert from the Norwegian Medicines Agency. The alert said that there were four new reports of serious rare clotting events, including some complicated by low platelet counts, in adults under 65 after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Indonesia

The stand against this enforced vaccination is larger than what is happening here in Canada. In Indonesia, concerned citizens groups are speaking up against what they believe is propaganda by the government. The latest official survey shows that of 115,000 respondents, 27% expressed hesitation, citing concerns about: vaccine safety, effectiveness, side effects, the country’s health system preparedness as well as issues related to religious beliefs and lack of education.

Another growing concern on whether the vaccine is permissible according to Islamic law (halal), with differing opinions among prominent Islamic organizations. In response to the concerns, the Indonesian Ulema Council issued Halal certifications for Sinovac & AstraZeneca vaccines.

Caribbean

What is happening in the islands is interesting. I came across Dr Carissa Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO’s regional branch in Latin America, and she had a lot to say about vaccine hesitancy.

“I want to make a special appeal to my fellow Caribbean persons please, we have to be extremely careful. We are playing with our lives. So my appeal to you is, get up; wake up from that slumber; wake up from that dream, because we know that vaccines are safe.

I don’t know the sources of the information that is triggering this level of vaccine hesitancy. I can tell you that they are not scientifically proven, and I want to appeal to you to listen to the sources where you have truthful, scientifically based information and evidence.

There have been some rare side effects from the vaccines that usually occur within a few weeks of immunization. The side effects are closely monitored by scientists: nationally, regionally and globally, and actions are taken immediately if concerns arise. Every medication you take has side effects, and you don’t question them.”

I find her rant interesting; it seems desperate, and emotional. Why such a push? It could be because many of the islands have low vaccination rates. As of April 2022, the rate of people who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose was 59% in the Cayman Islands, 39% in Anguilla, 31% in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and 26% in the British Virgin Islands. This figure is 24% in Montserrat. Officials received 3,000 vaccine doses in February, but there is almost a third of that number on the verge of being discarded.

Antigua and Barbuda

There has been a dramatic slowdown of the public vaccination programme in Antigua and Barbuda even though it remains among the countries with the highest vaccination rates for COVID-19, with 40% of the population already inoculated. This number could arguably be much better if the health authorities were not battling such a high level of vaccine hesitancy.

Health officials have blamed the falloff in vaccine education as one of the reasons for the decline in vaccinations. The government has made efforts to combat the hesitancy, in the form of vaccine incentives, but has lately moved to implement stricter measures to urge the population forward.

This dialogue is similar in islands like: Jamaica, Martinique, and Guadeloupe, all with low rates, and a push back against the vaccine rhetoric.

Africa

When it comes to vaccination in Africa, well, I will let the numbers talk. Once again, they won’t talk about these numbers in the news. Why would they? This would do nothing for their marketing strategy:

• Democratic Republic of Congo – 39% vaccination Rate
• Tanzania – 14.8% Vaccination Rate
• Ethiopia – 45% Vaccination Rate
• Senegal -8.9% Vaccination Rate
• Ghana – 55% Vaccination Rate
• Madagascar – 8.3% Vaccination Rate

Questionable mRNA

Finally, one other thing that has not been discussed is hat the mRNA in the shots was of questionable quality. This was revealed in a British Medical Journal feature investigation article published in March 2021(https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n62).

As explained by the author, journalist Serena Tinari, cyber attackers retrieved more than 40 megabytes of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine data from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December 2020. The hacked data was subsequently sent to journalists and academics worldwide. It was also published on the dark web. Some of the documents show European regulators had significant concerns over the lack of intact mRNA in the commercial batches sampled.

Well, that is it for now. I hope that I was able to provide some more insight on what is happening in the world, especially when it has to do with this drawn out pandemic. I wonder what they have planned for us this winter…