Multisectoral Approach on COVID-19 vaccination: a proposed solution on vaccine hesitancy.

As COVID-19 cases rise in one of Southeast Asia's worst-hit nations, low public trust in vaccines will be a huge block in the government's vaccination program. In a recent survey in January 2021 which was conducted by Pulse Asia, nearly half of Filipinos said that they would not get vaccinated against COVID-19 due to safety concerns. A proposed solution would be a Multisectoral Approach (MSA). MSA refers to the deliberate collaboration among various stakeholder groups (e.g. government, civil society and private and religious sectors) and sectors (e.g. health, environment and economy) to achieve a policy outcome. By engaging multiple sectors, such as interfaith collaborations, governments can leverage knowledge, expertise, reach and resources, benefiting from their combined and varied strengths as they work toward the shared goal of building public trust on vaccines. © Crown copyright 2021.

A recent correspondence in the Journal of Public Health rightly argued that the Catholic Church can help in building public trust in COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines. This paper argues that religious leaders, not only the Catholic Church, but even among different major religions, can help in building public trust in COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines. In previous epidemics, the Department of Health identifies ‘vaccine hesitancy’ as one the reasons for the outbreak. Moreover, as the Philippines seeks COVID-19 vaccines, previous issues, such as the ‘Dengvaxia controversy’, still lingers. The Philippines Department of Health DOH is working to combat COVID-19 immunization worries as the Dengvaxia controversy continues to threaten vaccine confidence in the country.

As COVID-19 cases rise in one of the Southeast Asia’s worst-hit nations, low public trust in vaccines will be a huge block in the government’s vaccination program in the Philippines. In a recent survey in January 2021 which was conducted by Pulse Asia, nearly half of Filipinos said that they would not get vaccinated against COVID-19 due to safety concerns. Results showed that out of 2400 Filipino adults who took part in the survey, 47% said that they do not want to be vaccinated even when doses are already available. Only 1/3 or 32% of the respondents said that they are willing to be vaccinated, while 21% are undecided. In this perspective, public health experts, government officials, advocates, church leaders and others in the scientific community should respect the signals of hesitancy and communicate sensitivity without undermining the importance of the vaccine.

A proposed solution would be a Multisectoral Approach (MSA). MSA refers to the ‘deliberate collaboration among various stakeholder groups (e.g. government, civil society and private sector) and sectors (e.g. health, environment and economy) to jointly achieve a policy outcome’. By engaging multiple sectors, such as interfaith collaborations, governments can leverage knowledge, expertise, reach and resources, benefiting from their combined and varied strengths as they work toward the shared goal of building public trust on vaccines. As the first COVID-19 vaccines roll out in the Philippines, experts note that religious leaders play a crucial role in public health. Previous correspondence highlighted the need for interfaith or interreligious collaborations among world religions.

Thus, the paper suggests that not only religions can work for the common good, it is the universal imperative. It may be useful for the people engaged in religion and science to know the insights of recent scientific research on what role can religious leaders can contribute to rebuild public trust on COVID-19 vaccine. As such, will religious leaders fight for—or against—COVID-19 vaccinations? It is not a question on belief or science, but on the involvement of all. Hence, a Multisectoral Approach.