Vaccine Hesitancy versus Vaccine Envy in the Medical Community

Dr. Jessica Kent-Rice, an emergency medicine resident in Toronto, posted this photo on Twitter, writing she was "extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to get vaccinated." Photo by @jessicakentrice/Twitter

"I've never had people request a photo when they've gotten a vaccine before. I think it points to how terrible the pandemic has been and what a historic moment it is ... I'll be very excited and enthusiastic for when my turn comes up."

"One of the personal support workers I was vaccinating said her mom who lives in the Philippines was  told by her local public-health official that she wouldn't be getting it [inoculated] until 2023."

Monika Winnicki, dermatologist, Toronto, vaccine volunteer administer

 

"When we are on the front lines and seeing, on social media, vaccinations being given to child psychiatrists doing Zoom meetings or doctors on maternity leave ... it gives us the message that we've been forgotten."

Alan Drummond, emergency physician, Perth, Ontario

 

"I feel like the urban centres are getting covered. I feel like rural Canada is being missed."

"Every time I see a friend posting, I'm happy for them but feel incredibly anxious."

"We were told [a vaccine] is three months away. There is no vaccine rollout where I'm working -- no one has received a vaccine."

"I'm just disappointed. My hospital covers several different communities and there are outbreaks and we definitely see COVID-positive patients ... Rural lives matter too." 

Sarah Giles, rural family and emergency physician, Kenora, Ontario

Photo: Michelle Morais

"As selfies continued to show up, the emotions turned a little bit complex. I caught myself in a more envious state, and then feeling guilt around feeling envy."

"It's never about individuals; it's more about feeling [the rollout] should be going faster than it is."

"I think it's a normal feeling. But I think it's important to acknowledge the feelings of envy and guilt."

Audrey Marcotte, emergency medicine resident, Montreal

"We haven't really seen a ton of cases ... My life hasn't really changed a whole lot in the past year ... I've had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with my family. Birthday parties have been celebrated."

"I haven't posted anything for fears of how it would make my deserving colleagues who haven't gotten theirs yet feel. Seeing their anxiety on social media has made me realize that posting a picture ... might not help their morale."

Aleisha Murnaghan, emergency doctor, Charlottetown, P.E.I.

"When Ontario Public Health put out its guidelines for vaccinations, they excluded pregnant and lactating women."

"About eight to 11 percent of pregnant women who acquire COVID19 will end up sick enough to be admitted to hospital, and two to four percent end up in ICU with severe complications, including being on a ventilator for weeks to months and [with] long-term effects from COVID."

"The risk for non-pregnant women is one to two percent by comparison, so we're looking at a two to four times higher rate of severe disease in the unvaccinated."

"Pregnant doctors are posting to show people that they feel it's safe enough to get it themselves."

Constance Nasello, chair, Ontario Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

In a sense, the medical community, comprised of individuals from all backgrounds and beliefs and walks of life in their private lifestyles is no different than the general public in their concerns, their likes and dislikes ,their distrust of systems. People from outside the medical community likely think that those within it have some kind of insider knowledge and confidence the general public lacks. A general public among whom a substantial contingent of people view the prospect of being vaccinated askance, not willing to trust medical science when it says the vaccines are safe and effective. 

People in the medical community have their own groups of medical professionals unwilling to chance taking a vaccine they feel has been inadequately tested and researched, much less the time it has taken to develop the vaccine; they view it with distrust. So much for being a medical insider; those job descriptions don't automatically come with an app to instill confidence and trust. And so, from within the medical community itself a campaign was initiated to persuade their unwilling collegial peers that all is well -- look, I've taken the vaccine and I'm fine!

Photo: Michelle Morais

As part of their convincing campaign, medical personnel have been taking selfies of having their vaccination and posting them on social media sites for the benefit of their colleagues in medical practise. And those selfies have garnered some surprising results. One emergency doctor in Vancouver who happens also to be an outstanding athlete was amazed to see her vaccine selfie acquire more likes than a Facebook post showing her finishing an Ironman competition. "I think it speaks to how everyone is looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel".

There are, however, critics of the vaccine-selfie campaign, those who feel the new social media campaign has been the cause of anxiety, envy and frustration at a time that many physicians still await their turn in a slow-motion rollout across the provinces. Dr.Drummond the emergency physician in Perth as an example, feels the postings to be "tiresome" and "demoralizing". 

Dr.Giles in Kenora has had experience working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, Pakistan, South Sudan and Myanmar and her concern is the effect the vaccine postings of photographs may have on people living in lower-income countries: "My friends in those countries are not posting vaccines selfies", she said of countries where vaccines are not in circulation and most certain not to be for years to come in an unequal world of access and non-access. 

Many other doctors are convinced the selfies have a useful purpose; to educate and motivate those who remain vaccine-hesitant within health care to be convinced inoculations are the best course of action for themselves personally, their families and their communities at large. "There's a lot of mistrust and conspiracy theories around 'Big Pharma'", explained Jennifer Chu, a St.Michael's Hospital emergency physician in Toronto. "A lot of people also don't understand how drugs are made and think that the vaccine can't be safe because it was rolled out so quickly."

In Canada, the South Asian population is notorious from within the medical community for its suspicion of vaccinations. Kashif Pirzda, a Toronto emergency doctor who works with Canada's South Asian COVID Task Force, posted a selfie with captions in Hindi and Urdu meant to turn the situation of false information around. "Usually the same claims will come up, such as that the vaccine will change your DNA, or that it hasn't been properly tested, or that it contains pork products, which would make it forbidden for Hindus or Muslims", he said.

 

As well, a situation of vaccine hesitancy has emerged among health-care workers at long-term care facilities where some centres in Ontario see vaccination rates of a mere 20 percent. Since many of those workers are of South Asian heritage working with vulnerable elderly and infirm residents, it's critical for them to accept inoculations. 

"I think we have an obligation as medical experts to spread sound medical knowledge and facts to our non-medical friends and family."

"I think the time to address and remove vaccine hesitancy is now ... as physicians, we are highly mindful of staying in our own lane when it comes to various societal issues."

"This is our lane."

Kavitha Passaperuma, oncologist, Richmond Hill, Ontario