The Relation between Anti-Vaxxers and COVID-19 Vaccine

By Serena Lee

Anti-vaxxers are those who disagree with the use and efficiency of vaccines for a complex variety of reasons. The World Health Organization has listed the anti-vaccine movement as one of the top ten global health threats in 2019, pointing out it threatens the progress of combatting vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio. Furthermore, the difficulty of addressing the Anti-vaxxers and their movement is exacerbated by the complex reasoning that underlies this movement. The spread of COVID-19 and the development of the COVID vaccines emphasize the need to understand and counteract the anti-vaccine movement. Unless society addresses the anti-Vax movement, COVID-19, a highly contagious and deadly virus will not be fully eradicated and will continue to have a drastic impact on both human health and societal well being alongside other infectious diseases.

Importantly, in order to combat the anti-vaccine movement, we must first understand why they are against vaccines and analyze the complex reasons behind their mistrust. By understanding their fears and qualms, we can attempt to overcome their arguments with logic and reasoning and provide a strong foundation for change, instead of blindly arguing in bad faith. To begin with, WHO’s “Best practice guidance” sheet on responding to anti-vaxxers provides strategies to reason and respond to arguments against vaccinations with the goal of making the “public audience more resilient to anti-vaccine statements and stories” and “supporting vaccine hesitancy in their vaccine acceptance.” The current guidelines are general mechanisms for change and include strategies that can provide means subtly attempting to reason with Anti-vaxxers. Given COVID-19’s massive spread, I believe that WHO should update this guideline with greater emphasis on the nature of COVID-19, the societal uncertainties we face, and of the greater fear that may be present amongst the Anti-Vaxxers.

Furthermore, considering the radical changes that COVID-19 has inflicted upon societies and public health, there may also exist newfound reasons or developments in the viewpoints or perspectives of anti-vaxxers and their movements. Therefore, it is critical that further efforts are made to account for and consider Anti-vaxxers’ opinions and the basis of their movements. This should become a set requirement as the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and public support for vaccination will be dependent on the public mindset of the virus and the vaccine.

As with the general anti-vaccine movement more generally, an additional concern is the accessibility of COVID-19 vaccine for minors who may want the vaccine but may not be able to access it because of limitations from Anti-vaxx parents. This limited accessibility is yet another public health concern, and strengthened coordination regarding youth informed consent and the requirements should first be made clear. Additionally, those requirements should keep the accessibility of youth in mind and find ways to provide required health services without the direct authorization of guardians.

This discussion leads us to the ethics behind reasoning and enforcing vaccinations on anti-vaxxers. Our attempts to educate and reason anti-vaxxers will indeed provide the foundation for change; however it will not be enough to eradicate the whole movement. As such, there will still be people who will not get vaccinated. Given the current state of COVID-19 and its effects on human health, I believe that it should be a requirement that people are vaccinated in order to partake in public activities, organizations, etc. so that all people are protected. However, this is easier said than done. Furthermore, if the impact of COVID-19 and the lessons learned allows us to indeed overcome the obstacle of getting all individuals to be vaccinated, it can be the catalyst of change for future vaccination requirements and the eradication of the anti-vaccine movement. Ultimately, the application of the COVID-19 vaccination and its requirements will not just be important for the current public health and social in the present, but will also be critical in determining the legal and ethical parameters of future vaccination requirements and individual will.