Vaccine hesitancy in rural Sask. must be addressed by community leaders: epidemiologist

COVID-19 debated at the Legislature WATCH: On day two of Spring Session at the Saskatchewan Legislature COVID-19 was again front and centre. Allison Bamford explains.

REGINA — COVID-19 case numbers are increasing in rural Saskatchewan communities due to vaccine hesitancy, according to medical experts.

An epidemiologist at the University of Saskatchewan believes that there is a multitude of reasons why residents don’t want to take the vaccine, and those reasons differ by community.

“We have now got to the point this vaccine campaign where we now need to be very specific about what concerns people have and be able to address them in a very straightforward and clear manner,” Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, epidemiologist, said.

According to Muhajareen, for some, vaccine hesitancy comes from individuals that do not feel they or their community is vulnerable to COVID-19. For others, the hesitancy comes from deep mistrust of government bodies, vaccine development, and their beliefs on freedom and immunity. He said it’s important for trusted local leaders in the community to speak to the public about their experiences with COVID-19.

“Research on communication and research on how people receive messages is important,” Dr. Muhajareen said. “People receive messages in many different ways… they sift through messages through their cultural models. That’s why need trusted community leaders to speak about this to see a difference,”

In the Central East region’s subzone 4, one in every 344 people currently have COVID-19.

South of Yorkton in subzone 5, which includes Esterhazy, Langenburg and Melville -- one in every 285 people currently have the virus.

In the Regina region the active case rate is one in every 699 people.

In a conference on Oct. 26, chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said now residents need to act to prevent another wave from happening in Saskatchewan.

“Take all the measures we have been discussing,” Dr. Shahab said. “Keep contact small, [keep] people gathering only fully vaccinated, comply with all requirements like proof of vaccination even where we are not required to. [Lets] really make this the last significant wave that we have.”