key: cord-0783052-156h4p5t
authors: Cordero, Dalmacito A
title: Rebuilding public trust: a clarified response to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy predicament
date: 2021-02-05
journal: J Public Health (Oxf)
DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdab020
sha: d1833b6b46776dde35663efbc5cf3eb6269f52d7
doc_id: 783052
cord_uid: 156h4p5t

As the world welcomes the availability and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, coupled with it is the ‘hesitant’ predicament of some Filipinos to get vaccinated because of the confusing information regarding its efficacy. With this, the government needs to build up public trust to assure a successful vaccination program. A recent study suggested that a more ‘localized’ public education and role-modeling from public officials and health authorities can help in building public trust. However, this needs a lot of clarification if applied in the current situation where education is fully executed online. The problem now lies in the country’s poor internet connectivity which greatly affects the online setup. This study then proposes that a house-to-house massive information campaign by local health care personnel which is led by a medical doctor to ensure a credible explanation of the entire procedure. In the same way, the idea of public officials as role-models seemed to be ineffective since there were already casualties linked to the vaccine. A consistent transparent approach is suggested in lieu of this which can prepare the country for a more defensive strategy to fight the pandemic.

were already casualties linked to the vaccine. A consistent transparent approach is suggested in lieu of this which can prepare the country for a more defensive strategy to fight the pandemic.

To the editor How can the Philippine government build public trust for a successful COVID-19 vaccination program? In a recent article published in this journal, the authors suggested that a more 'localized' public education and role-modeling from public officials and health authorities can help in building public trust for successful distribution of the vaccines. 1 These suggestions not only are indeed good but also worthy to discuss for clarification. First, a more 'localized' public education seems to be feasible but one has to consider that the only possible way for doing public education in the country at present is through online. The problem now arises with regard to poor internet connectivity in the country. The Philippines is ranked 101st among 179 countries in terms of fixed-line internet speed in 2019. The country's average speed of 19.51 Mbps was much slower than the global average of 57.91 Mbps. 2 How would the online dissemination of the vaccine information be successful with this snail-paced internet connection in the country? As a matter of fact, an official of the Department of Education even admitted that the internet connectivity problem in the country is beyond the agency's control and so, it cannot address the problem. 3 In lieu of this, this paper proposes a house-to-house massive information campaign by local health care personnel with the leadership of a certified medical doctor to explain the importance and side effects of the different vaccines available. It should be noted that ordinary personnel such as social workers and nurses from the local health center are not enough to do this big task. Many Filipinos look up to doctors themselves as the ones capable of performing the task well and they have a high sense of trust and respect for them. It is indeed a daunting task by the government but it is possible since there are doctors in both the public and private sectors who are willing to volunteer in times of crisis. This is validated by the increasing list of 'Doctors to the Barrios' (DTTB) who are a group of fresh medical graduates who spend 2 years to serve as rural physicians and health officers of doctorless municipalities all over the country. 4 Some DTTB were in Surigao during the earthquake, in Leyte during typhoon 'Yolanda' and in the Battle of Marawi throughout the crisis. In fact, a total of 61 health workers already died of COVID-19 in the country as of 3 October 2020 and this manifests the fighting spirit of Filipino doctors.

For the next suggestion, it is clear that role-modeling implies public officials getting vaccinated first in order to show the public how credible and convincing their leaders are and at the same time how important and effective the vaccines are. However, the big question is, what if the particular 'vaccinated' official who is the 'role-model' suffered severe side effects or even died? It is important to note that Norway already expressed increasing concern about the safety of the Pfizer vaccine on elderly people after 29 of its citizens died and the Norwegian Medicines Agency claimed that all deaths are thus linked to the vaccine. 5 Among these 29 casualties, there could be possibly few of them who are considered as role models by their own relatives. Will the public still have high regard for the 'role model' for possible imitation? The incident for sure will not create trust but more fear for the public. In response, public officials need not to be role-models but simply exemplify consistent transparency on what is really going on in the country's health care program. Being open to the public and not hiding the real situation can even save lives, thus, save the country. Transparency paves the way for more preventive measures and a foresight of building a more defensive strategy in fighting the unseen enemy!

Building public trust: a response to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy predicament

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Internet connection problems beyond our control-DepEd

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