In Poland, the percentage of people who do not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is still alarmingly high. They are mostly young people. It is more often about women than men. Immunologist dr hab. n. med. Wojciech Feleszko from the Medical University of Warsaw admits that we may have gotten the lack of trust from the times of the People’s Republic of Poland. Especially since a similar situation takes place in other Eastern European countries.
- While Europe is arming itself to war with the highly infectious Delta variant, the biggest problem in Poland is still low levels of vaccination.
- And this problem does not seem to have a good solution. Some Poles simply do not want to get vaccinated
- – In Israel, 40 percent were against vaccinations. society – says Dr. Feleszko. At the same time, he adds that this percentage dropped significantly in the fourth wave
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage.
Mira Suchodolska, PAP: Every third Pole (32%) aged 18-65 admits that they are not going to be vaccinated against COVID-19. As much as 27 percent of respondents declare that nothing will convince them to change their minds, and 5 percent. admits certain arguments that could make them change their mind, according to a study carried out by ARC Rynek i Opinia in cooperation with the Medical University of Warsaw. This is a disturbingly large number. Where, in your opinion, comes this reluctance of Poles to protect themselves against the coronavirus?
Dr Wojciech Feleszko, pulmonologist, immunologist and pediatrician: I think it is mainly due to a lack of knowledge. Research shows that as much as 41 percent. those who oppose vaccinations have primary or vocational education. There are more women (37%) than men among them, and interestingly – they are mainly people in the prime of life. One would have to ask a good sociologist why such attitudes prevail among them.
Personally, if I had to look for reasons, I would say that it is a lack of social trust, which we probably got from the times of the People’s Republic of Poland, and unfortunately fueled in recent years. This is justified because other Eastern European countries have a similar vaccination coverage as Poland (48%), or even lower. For example, Slovakia achieved a result at the level of 42%, Slovenia 47%, Romania 25%, the Czechs are slightly higher – 53%. And it’s not that vaccines are lacking, they’re available and they’re waiting for people. Western European countries are in terms of vaccinating the population by 10-20 points. percent ahead of us – France has 67% immunization coverage, Spain 70%, the Netherlands 66%, Italy 64%. In addition, our leaders do not promote pro-health and pro-vaccination attitudes.
What would have to happen for the unconvinced to find out that it is worth taking care of themselves and their loved ones?
It may be similar to Israel, which was a model for others when it comes to the level of vaccination – 19% of the drug against COVID-60 was adopted very quickly there. citizens. And suddenly the vaccination stopped, because it turned out that the rest of the society hesitates or has anti-vaccine views. It’s just that when the fourth wave of the pandemic came, many changed their minds – probably the fear of being severely ill and dying had done its job. At the moment, already 75 percent. The Israelis have adopted the vaccination, and the process continues.
The surveyed Poles gave various reasons why they did not intend to vaccinate. There were arguments about distrust, lack of need, fear … I am curious how many of these frightened people have already contracted COVID. I have heard that for many it was such a traumatic transition …
WF:… that they don’t want to hear about this disease anymore?
Probably yes, but most of all they are afraid of the so-called NOPs, i.e. undesirable post-vaccination reactions that can produce symptoms similar to the disease itself. “I would not, I would not be able to go through it a second time” – such opinions have been heard.
WF: COVID-19 is a terrible, deadly disease – some people have already found out about it, others have heard about it. Nevertheless, a lot of myths have arisen around her, such as the one about some dramatic reactions in the body after vaccination in people who have contracted COVID.
Over five billion doses of the vaccine have already been administered worldwide! And statistics show that undesirable reactions are an absolute margin. Usually it is a mild pain in the arm, sometimes with a fever not lasting more than a day. It cannot be compared with what happens to patients who end up in intensive care units, ventilators, and even those who are sick at home for weeks. Neither with the postovid complications they will experience, if they recover from the disease at all. As a clinician, I see them almost every day. There is still no cure for this disease, it is not known whether it will be at all. The only protection against it is the vaccine. Of course, and it does not give a XNUMX% guarantee that we will not get infected. But even if this happens, we can be almost XNUMX% sure that we will not get seriously ill or die.
If it were up to you, how would you convince the distrustful to change their minds? 15 percent of them claim to be able to yield to certain arguments, such as proven vaccine effectiveness (28%), receipt of money / rewards or coercion / legal regulations (24% each). Others are 19 percent, and the answer “hard to say” was chosen by 6 percent. asked.
I believe in the power of science and its arguments. That is why I would like to see celebrities and athletes stop persuading people to vaccinate. Instead, I would see a well-done social campaign in which real authorities in the field of virology, epidemiology, immunology and other fields of medicine would take part – such as Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski, prof. Krzysztof Simon or prof. Krzysztof Pyrć. Independent authorities, scientists and doctors, people who, due to their knowledge gained over the years, enjoy respect and social trust.
Interviewed by Mira Suchodolska (PAP)
Also read:
- Israel: 12rd dose vaccination for all over XNUMX years old
- Experts: don’t be afraid of the third dose, it won’t hurt anyone
- COVID-19 in Wuhan: They fell ill a year ago and still have symptoms of the virus today. «Out of breath and depression»
- Epidemiologist: the higher the vaccination rate, the more normal our lives are
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