Roar writer on vaccine hesitancy and what we can do to combat it.
On April 13, 2021, King’s College London students received an email from Professor Nicola Phillips, the vice-principal of KCL, and Darren Wallis, the executive director, regarding the College’s planning for the academic year 2021/2022. KCL students have also allegedly shared this email with prospective students on forums such as The Student Room.
In the email, it was stated that “we are encouraging everyone in the King’s community to have the Covid vaccine when they are invited to.”
Prospective students and current students had one question: “Will we be affected if we choose not to take the vaccine?â€
Why are people even discussing whether or not we should take the vaccine? Shouldn’t we be discussing the safety of our community right? But this discussion stems from a societal issue known as “vaccine hesitancy” and there are multiple reasons for this. Vaccine hesitancy occurs when people are unwilling to take the vaccine based on a certain number of reasons.
For instance, people could be vaccine-hesitant because they believe that the virus doesn’t exist, it’s a joke or thinks that since the death rate is low for young people there is no point. They might also believe that the vaccine was rushed and that it has not been tested enough to make sure that it is safe enough for people to take. A few conspiracy theories include the idea that “Bill Gates believes that a huge number of people will die from taking the Covid-19 vaccine”, the likes of which have been debunked by the BBC.
Why should we take the vaccine?
Not taking the vaccine can cause a lot of issues, and further burden the healthcare system. The vaccine needs to be taken so that “herd immunityâ€Â can be reached. This is when most of the population is immune to a disease to provide indirect protection to those who are not immune to the disease.
There is a multitude of reasons that refute vaccine hesitancy. For example, we need to take the vaccine even though the death rates are low for young people because we interact with older people in our day-to-day lives act as transmitters of the virus even if it doesn’t affect us directly. But that’s not the point of this article. I’m not trying to lecture you or advise you. Rather, I am trying to convey, as a student body what we can do to help our community and the world.
What should we, as KCL students do?
King’s College London is one of the most diverse universities in the UK, staffed by intellectuals from all across the world. As a student body, we need to be able to make changes within ourselves before we can bring changes to the world. If we know people who are vaccine-hesitant, it is our responsibility as students to educate them. If we are vaccine-hesitant ourselves, we should try and look into the vaccine more and learn more about it.
Examples of how campaigns have worked against vaccine hesitancy can be observed in multiple parts of society. For examples, Imams in the UK have reassured Muslims across the country that taking the Covid-19 vaccine is safe. Imams in other countries such as Turkey have reassured Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, that taking the vaccine would not nullify their fast. Religious figures in countries such as India and Israel have also reassured people that the vaccine is safe and that it does not go against religious guidelines. We have also seen famous celebrities asking their fans to get vaccinated if they can do so.
During a time when everyone’s stressed, we should also be respectful when discussing such things so that we don’t offend anyone. People will understand if we are nice to them and speak rationally. We could also launch online campaigns to advocate for the vaccine so that people can learn more about it, how it’s absolutely safe, and why we should take it as citizens of our beautiful planet.
Do people who don’t take the vaccine, deserve the same rights as everyone else?
This is a very controversial statement and I know a lot of people who advocate for the vaccine will disagree, but we live in a free country where we don’t force anyone to do anything, everyone deserves the same rights and freedoms regardless of anything. As a University, we must respect a student’s choice but must educate everybody with regards to this issue and the importance of the vaccine. Taking their rights away and threatening them into taking the vaccine will do none of us any good and two wrongs will never make a right.
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