Why are Some People Hesitant to take COVID19 Vaccines?

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Why are Some People Hesitant to take COVID19 Vaccines?
At the end of January 2021, I was excited that the world has made progress in combating COVID19 by introducing a vaccine. I was reading a WHO article that appeared on December 31st, 2020, titled, “WHO issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine and emphasizes the need for equitable global access.” Having lost relatives and friends to COVID19, I was happy that eventually, a vaccine was available to save the rest of the population. I quickly shared the article on my Facebook page to enable more people to access it. Within minutes, my post attracted numerous comments. The first comment was a link showing that 29 people had died in Norway after getting vaccinated with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. All these individuals were aged 75 years and above. The article further indicated that the U.S. media had remained silent despite the massive deaths from the vaccine. When I looked at the article, I noted that it lacked contextual detail. For instance, about 400 elderly individuals die every week in nursing homes in Norway. Investigation reports on 29 older adults did not link the cause of death to the vaccine. Instead, the deaths were caused by other underlying conditions. Further, I discovered that other media outlets like Bloomberg, Associated Press, and Australia’s 7 News had already covered the deaths. More comments followed condemning COVID vaccines and warning people against being vaccinated. Others shared videos from “medical doctors” advising people to stay away from the vaccines because they altered people’s DNA. I was surprised to see how the post generated heated arguments, with anti-vaccine activists presenting misleading information regarding COVID19 vaccines to persuade people from being vaccinated. In this paper, I will examine why some individuals are hesitant to take the COVID19 vaccine, despite its availability. The misleading notions that COVID19 vaccines have microchips, have not met safety and efficacy standards, have adverse side effects, and can alter the DNA of the recipients have led to vaccine hesitancy among a section of the population.
Rumors continue to be circulated on social media that the vaccine includes a microchip. Research in Jordan and Kuwait demonstrated that 27.7% of the respondents believed that COVID19 vaccines inject microchips into the recipients (Sallam et al.). The harmful beliefs extended to notions that governments wanted to enforce vaccination to implant microchips as a tool for controlling people. The conspiracy theory originates from the misrepresentation of Microsoft cofounder billionaire Bill Gate’s vaccine advocacy. Gates had earlier remained vocal on the need to ensure that the healthcare system remains vigilant when a pandemic strikes the world. People have misrepresented Gates’ efforts to mean that the billionaire is trying to establish a global surveillance system through COVID19 vaccines (Goodman and Carmichael). They claim that the vaccine has a microchip that turns people into magnets where they can be monitored. Yahoo News and YouGov partnered to conduct a poll to claim that Gates wants to implant chips on individual...