It may take more than an infomercial featuring President Rodrigo Duterte—with Vice President Leni Robredo as a possible although unlikely co-star—to increase vaccine acceptance in the Philippines.
A Social Weather Stations poll released this month suggests only 32% of adult Filipinos are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Of the 35% who said they were uncertain about getting vaccinated, 39% said they were worried about side effects.
An SWS survey last September—done then through mobile phones and computer-assisted telephone interviewing—found similar results: 32% said they would "definitely" get vaccinated and 34% said they "probably" would.
Building up vaccine acceptance has been a challenge across the world, and concerns over the rush to deploy them as well as related conspiracy theories have not helped.
To counter these narratives, an article in The Lancet suggested in March that government "prioritize evidence-driven communication strategies in their COVID-19 vaccine programs."
Healthcare providers should also "maintain situational awareness, respond to public concerns, and counter unfounded claims by those seeking to undermine public confidence in vaccines," it said.
RELATED: Correcting COVID-19 vaccine misinformation
Distrust in government
But discourse on COVID-19 vaccines cannot be divorced from politics, an analysis of vaccine hesitancy in Hong Kong (and the Palace's insistence on politicizing criticism of as well as support for the government's vaccination program) suggests.
RELATED: 'Opposition wishing for failed vaccination program', says Roque | Roque wrongly tells Duterte that Leni pushing to star with him in vaccine ad
Vaccine acceptance in Hong Kong is at 39% according to a YouGov poll and "skepticism apparently stems from a deep distrust in authorities—both the Hong Kong and Chinese governments," a report released last week by First Draft News said.
This excerpt may feel familiar to readers in the Philippines:
The most prominent vaccine misinformation in Hong Kong includes misleading claims about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine as well as unfounded claims that the Hong Kong government may be pushing the Sinovac shot for political reasons.
These examples demonstrate that apprehension about the vaccines is as much a sociological phenomenon and an emotional response as it is a lack of understanding scientific facts.
According to the most recent SWS survey, 51% of respondents—more than half but barely just—said they were confident in government's evaluation of COVID-19 vaccines granted emergency use authorization, with 18% saying they were very confident.
It has not helped that regulatory processes seem to have become just suggestions. An article in The Diplomat in March that looked into the effects of the Dengvaxia controversy on vaccine hesitancy noted the unauthorized use of Sinopharm vaccines on members of the Presidential Security Group late last year, saying it eroded trust in the process.
"Because of its poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the line-jumpers in the administration that saw fit to publicly boast their ability to vaccinate themselves with a smuggled and still unapproved Chinese vaccine, it seems inevitable that public trust in the government’s vaccination program is at an all-time low," authors led by Dr. Cenon Alfonso, dean at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, wrote.
RELATED: FDA, DOH to probe Mon Tulfo's use of smuggled Sinopharm jabs
Media amplification
Media can also amplify distrust for vaccines, First Draft News said in a separate analysis piece on misinformation about Chinese vaccines, noting that writing about adverse reactions presents a slippery slope.
READ: Chinese-made vaccines are being subject to misleading narratives
While looking into misinformation about Chinese vaccines in articles published by US-funded Radio Free Asia, First Draft also points out that "China has been criticized for failing to provide sufficient data about its homegrown vaccines, and for attacking vaccines made by US and European pharmaceutical companies with unsubstantiated claims and even conspiracy theories."
"Research earlier this year pointed to a network of pro-China social media accounts disseminating vaccine disinformation."
First Draft warns that "rushing to report on adverse reactions without knowing about a person's underlying medical conditions or other circumstances could risk amplifying misleading information about the vaccines."
Public health communication scientist Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou also warns that "by reporting hesitancy, you may actually cause more hesitancy," with repeated coverage of that reinforcing the narrative.
What is happening in Hong Kong, First Draft notes, "is a classic case of a feedback loop formed by scientific, emotional and political concerns: People are reluctant to get vaccinated because they are worried about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines and the government's agenda, and the fewer the people getting vaccinated, the more skeptical the public becomes about the government and the vaccines it provides."
The Philippines presents a similar case and, Alfonso writes, "the government must buttress the COVID-19 vaccination program by rehabilitating what is left of the public’s trust through consistent messaging, transparency, and respect for science."
"When Filipinos can again trust that the government will act in good faith for the safety and well-being of the people—that they are on the same side—social solidarity becomes conceivable, and responding to that individual call for action essential for collective immunity might again become more straightforward for Filipinos."
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In Indonesia, reports of ‘reverse astro-turfing’, to discredit activists:
“The red thread connecting cases such as Ravio’s and the high school students’ is a discernible attempt to frame activists and social movements as engineered, insincere, and ultimately malevolent. It further insinuates that the those involved in the resistance are the astroturfers. One might even call the scheme ensnaring them reverse astroturfing.”
More potential problems with algorithms:
Artificial Intelligence can now write disinformation and researchers find that “‘[w]ith a little bit of human curation, GPT-3 is quite effective’ at promoting falsehoods.”
Meanwhile, “Russia’s internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, recently ramped up its demands for the Silicon Valley companies to remove online content that it deems illegal or restore pro-Kremlin material that had been blocked” in a continuing clamp down on social media.