N.S. doctor hopes to encourage more African Nova Scotians to get vaccinated against COVID-19

A doctor in Dartmouth is trying to dispel misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines in hopes of encouraging hesitant African Nova Scotians to get immunized.

Nova Scotia's COVID-19 vaccination rate has been creeping toward 80 per cent fully vaccinated, but Dr. Chad Williams says some people in African Nova Scotian communities might need more convincing.

Portia Clark, host of CBC Radio's Information Morning, spoke to Williams, the chief of internal medicine at Dartmouth General Hospital, on Friday about why this might be happening.

This discussion has been edited for length and clarity.

Why do you sense that some people in African Nova Scotian communities are not getting vaccinated?

There are multiple factors. Any discussion around that has to first take into consideration that there are certain historical issues and ongoing issues that have created divides between the African Nova Scotian community and the medical institution in this province, certainly, but in the entire western world, really. 

So there are lots of issues around that, creating certain misgivings, mistrust, lack of rapport with the community and for that reason, lack of uptake of certain medical advice, including the advice around vaccine safety, efficacy and the importance of becoming vaccinated. 

On top of that, there is an abundance of misinformation that is flooding the fields everywhere, but [it's] especially harmful in some of these racialized communities, such as the African Nova Scotia community. 

How is this misinformation being actively spread in a way that you call, "A kind of virus in itself"?

The underlying theme is that sometimes a little information is one of the most dangerous things so oftentimes these bits of information aren't straight out false. They have threads of truth, but those threads can lead to very misleading information and bits of advice. 

An example of that would be the notion that an individual can contract COVID-19 whether or not they're vaccinated. So why get vaccinated? It's true that vaccinated individuals can contract COVID-19. What that bit of misinformation fails to provide is the fact that the risk of getting COVID-19 when vaccinated is far lower. Risks of having severe illness and death from COVID-19 is far lower when vaccinated. 

There are multiple mechanisms that are at play, including social media, word of mouth and the African Nova Scotian community is still a very, very common way for these bits of information to be spread as well.

How does the church and religion come up in your conversations about the vaccine?

The church is central to most of our African Nova Scotian communities and it's been a major pillar holding the communities together. It's a place of worship but it's also a place for community members to fellowship and greet and interact with each other. 

One of the messages we've been seeing is this notion that there are religious reasons not to get vaccinated. We see this in our community settings. More than one person has brought this up to me as something that they were concerned about. 

It's particularly dangerous in the African Nova Scotian community, because of the central part the church and faith plays. It can really sway individuals who may have been thinking otherwise. 

What kind of religious reasons do you mean, Dr. Williams? 

One of the major themes is the notion that this vaccine campaign is being forced on individuals. There are several individuals who have come forward to me — and they've seen this on social media as well — [saying] that it's forcing "God's people to do something that they shouldn't do."

It's important to not dismiss that, but to listen to it, to hear the concern in it and to validate that concern and then to go about approaching it in a way that is constructive … and can correct some of these notions because most heads of large faith groups have come forward and said that there is absolutely nothing in their faith that would suggest that individuals can't get vaccinated.

It's really, really important for high level and important community members in the African Nova Scotian community, especially faith-based leaders, to come forward and be champions for the vaccination programs as well.

What is your sense of the toll that COVID-19 is taking on African Nova Scotian communities?

What we do know about COVID-19 globally is that it's hit racialized groups such as the Black community harder for a multitude of reasons. It stands to reason, through extrapolation anyway, that the same would be true here in Nova Scotia. 

One of the challenges is we don't actually have that race-based data at our fingertips yet. I am cognizant and aware that these types of information are being collected, but we don't have that. 

What I will say is that anecdotally — because I still have friends in the community and most of my family members are still working and living out of the Preston townships — I do hear a lot of stories and experiences about infections, bad infections, hospitalizations, even deaths in both young and old people with and without comorbidities. 

It's a real issue for the African Nova Scotian community and one that the community needs to be aware of moving forward as we try to push this back and make it a thing of the past.

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