#168
Faith and Vaccine Trends; Beacons of Hope

The focus on factors influencing vaccination rates continues, and religious factors, positive and negative, are part of it. A new report from USAID and Momentum summarizes evidence about global vaccine hesitancy trends for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 vaccines in all major faith traditions. The evidence concludes that vaccine hesitancy among faith communities affects routine immunizations, but also demonstrates the potential of engaging faith actors as partners to increase immunization coverage. Faith communities and leaders are seen as critical partners in promoting COVID-19 vaccination moving forward.

In Kenya, the Association of Sisterhoods in Kenya (AOSK) has launched a six-month COVID-19 prevention and vaccine awareness campaign to complement the work of the government. An AOSK press release applauded the Ministry of Health’s efforts against the pandemic but called for both public and private support and advocacy for vaccine uptake, provision of medical supplies, and behavior change communication. The campaign aims to conduct virtual training to build capacity of frontline health workers and psycho-spiritual support forums for workers.
 
A recently published study surveying 38 OECD member states by Professor Uzi Rebhun of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel found that any 1% increase in the number of residents with strong religious identities is correlated with reduction in mortality rates by about a third. Rebhun examined population characteristics and environmental factors to determine what could contribute most to a nation’s ability to deal with the pandemic fairly well. The report argues that the more religious a country was (based on the percentage of population that goes to pray at least once a week), the lower its mortality rate was during the first 100 days of the pandemic. Rebhun explains, “The explanation for this would be that people who have strong religious faith have more social and moral support from their community and religious leaders. Additionally, they tend to be more optimistic and believe they can overcome their illness beyond the objective assessment of their doctor or other medical personnel.” Israel ranked first among the OECD states in their management of the pandemic and has served as a role model for the rest of the world.

Bhutan is praised for an immensely successful vaccine rollout. The small Buddist kingdom of about 781,000 people was able to effectively vaccinate 90% of its adult population within the first week of rollouts in July 2021, the fastest vaccination campaign seen since the start of the pandemic. Due to many communities being remote or in mountainous regions, helicopters delivered vaccines across the country, and volunteers distributed them among the local population. As of July 28, Bhutan had had only two COVID-19 related deaths. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has described Bhutan as a “beacon of hope for the region, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has upended lives and devastated families.”