Anti-vaxx gets physical

On Thursday evening, on his way to St Vincent's House of Assembly, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves was hit in the head by a protester's missile. The images of a Caribbean prime minister bloodied and concussed were chilling, more so because the violence was perpetrated by a 200-strong crowd gathered to resist possible mandatory vaccination measures.

St Vincent and the Grenadines has experienced 2,298 covid19 cases and 12 deaths. There is community spread, averaging one infection per day. The country has administered first doses of vaccines to more than 25,000 people, but the rate of vaccination is slow. The US Centers for Disease Control consider covid19 transmission in the islands to be at level 3, or high, and warns visitors to be fully vaccinated before visiting.

As the region begins to grapple with the challenge of balancing infection rates with economic activity, and island states dependent on tourism begin to reopen for business, vaccination remains the best option for managing intensity and spread of infection.

That crowd in Kingstown went ballistic because of fear, not of covid19, but of the possibility of the state putting its considerable weight behind a programme of mandatory vaccines.

That sense of forces beyond an individual's personal control collaborating to override personal choice underlies the most persuasive arguments of anti-vaxxers.

As vaccines slowly become available in the region, those who are vaccine-hesitant have already begun to make up a greater percentage of the unvaccinated, creating social tensions.

Alarmingly, too, the unvaccinated will also become the majority of hospitalised patients, creating pressures on regional health systems.

The call by Tobago Business Chamber president Martin George for mandatory covid19 vaccine laws so that business can reopen won't persuade the vaccine-hesitant.

Traditional methods of persuasion are failing to persuade vaccine holdouts, because they depend on top-down communication. But pro-vaccination messaging needs to take a cue from disinformation techniques, which thrive on social networks and exchange of information or misinformation among peers. Reaching people in meaningful and understandable ways is critical to any effort to end vacillation about vaccination.

Mr George sensibly suggests government ministers lead by example by championing their vaccination experiences.

Religious groups, professional organisations and high-profile individuals must also actively support the pro-vaccination message by more intimately engaging the unwilling in their circles with truthful vaccination experiences. Vaccinated peers are our best possible salespeople.

TT is far from the herd immunity that some anti-vaxxers expect to protect them, while emerging variants make the protection of such immunity a distant prospect.

Until the fears are acknowledged and addressed by trusted peers sharing well-resourced facts, the vaccine-hesitant will continue to pose a problem to the country's and the region’s progress against covid19.

Meanwhile, the virus isn't waiting for anyone to make up their minds.