COVID 19 vaccine fear leads to hesitancy among youths

by Nisha Ganasen

The person is deciding on registering himself for vaccination program

Source: Malaysiakini

KUALA LUMPUR: Variety of news about vaccines has triggered a range of emotions among young Malaysians who are not against vaccines, but their concern for their safety raises hesitancy to be vaccinated.

A survey by the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) stated that only 26.56 percent of the Malaysian population aged 18 and above have registered as of 23 March to get vaccinated, just up by 2.36 percentage points from 24.2 percent population coverage as of 17 March.

A medical graduate who requested anonymity, said she has no trust in the parties involved in the purchase of vaccination.

“It is a billion-dollar business we are talking about. Even on the small profit margin items like gloves and masks we are scammed so how sure are we that there won’t be foul play in vaccination?”

“What if the first batches are a decent batch and the upcoming batches are second grade or third grade vaccines? Surely, we can’t identify it,” she said.

Digital marketing manager, Naaveentiran Puvaneswaren said he remains undecided because he is still not confident with the vaccine produced in a rush which has many side effects.

“I had survived more than one year without getting infected and in most cases the infected person develops an immune system and gets cured by themselves.”

“So what is the necessity in getting a new substance into my body, which is not proven to be a hundred percent successful,” he said.

Mahalechumi Letchumighandhan, a business student stated that she had some concern arise while watching international news about some people having severe side effects over these vaccines.

While she feels she may be able to handle the vaccination now as a 22-year-old, she is concerned about the long term effects.

“But what will happen after 20 or 30 years later once I become weak and the vaccine side effects are still in my system causing major disability?” she questions.

Misleading information from social media is causing some young people to be hesitant about being vaccinated, said Prof Ellaya Farhana Binti Azari, a senior sociology and psychology lecturer at Raffles University.

Prof Ellaya also said that in this online world, it does not take much time for misinformation to spread widely. The vaccine fear is more infectious than the virus. Perhaps there is something we could learn from South Korean scientists who use a powerful combination of data and direct communication to combat misinformation.