Should Covid-19 Vaccines Be Made Mandatory in Cameroon?

In other parts of the world, there are numerous talks about making covid-19 vaccines mandatory. I had the same thought but doubt the effectiveness of this approach especially in African countries like Cameroon. Face masks are mandatory in Cameroon but after several months, people stopped wearing them. This needs to be reinforced.

Public health professionals and health officials are all working tirelessly around the world to build up trust with the public. While Cameroon is still waiting on the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines, the following approaches could be adopted in getting the Cameroonian public to trust covid-19 vaccines.

Firstly, the conversations should be interactive, listen and answer the public’s concerns. Do not be dismissive or ignore their concerns on the safety and production of the covid-19 vaccine. Healthcare workers who will be administering the covid-19 vaccine have to inform every recipient of what to expect after getting the vaccine and what to do if they developed a negative reaction.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave guidance on what to expect after getting the vaccine [1]. This will put the public at ease and not freak out because they were informed of the possibility of side effects. We tend to dance around the truth on side effects. Honesty and transparency are highly needed here.

Secondly, selected trusted messengers should be trained on how to convey these messages. These messengers should have roots in each community from various regions in Cameroon. Having a messenger from the same community as some of the primary audience could help in making the message more receptive. Also, these messengers do not necessarily have to be from a public health or healthcare background. As long as these messengers believe in science and vaccines, they are good to go. Multisectoral collaboration is encouraged and greatly needed in sustaining these efforts.

Lastly, we have all heard the saying “seeing is believing”. Having various community leaders, healthcare workers, celebrities, and religious leaders receive the covid-19 vaccine on live television or in a real live setting like a hospital or church can be very beneficial to the rest of the public. Seeing a fellow countryman or person you look up to take the vaccine, can be a huge selling point and erase all doubts.

Trust me doing all of the above approaches is going to be time-consuming, expensive, and exhausting. The Cameroon government needs to invest and work on the budget to sustain these efforts. Health communication in particular needs to be a thing. Health communication should be included as a course at colleges, and universities. Conspiracy theorists have succeeded in getting their messages out and influencing people due to poor communication from the health officials.

As Dr. Brian C. Castrucci, president and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation in the United States of America said, “If you aren’t talking and there is silence, misinformation will fill that silence” [2]. Public health, health officials, and health communicators need to speak up. After the mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign, the public should be given a chance to reflect on the messages conveyed.

All we can do is hope people listen and change their minds. With no mass covid-19 vaccination campaign out yet, I recommend the Ministry of Public Health hold off on making the covid-19 vaccine compulsory for now.

References

1. What to Expect after Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine. (2021). Retrieved 27 February 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect/after.html#:~:text=In%20most%20cases%2C%20discomfort%20from,away%20after%20a%20few%20days

2. Castrucci, B. (2021). Webinar: Communication Strategies to Build Confidence and Trust in COVID-19 Vaccines - de Beaumont Foundation. Retrieved 27 February 2021, from https://debeaumont.org/news/2021/aspph-webinar-vaccine-communication/