Intended for healthcare professionals

Opinion

Faith based dialogue can tackle vaccine hesitancy and build trust

BMJ 2022; 376 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o823 (Published 28 March 2022) Cite this as: BMJ 2022;376:o823
  1. Andrew Hatala, associate professor1,
  2. Maryam Chloé Pervaiz, graduate student2,
  3. Richard Handley, chief operating officer3,
  4. Tara Vijayan, associate professor of medicine4
  1. 1Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba
  2. 2Wellesley College
  3. 3Wells World Services
  4. 4Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

One in 10 Americans say that their religious beliefs prohibit them from getting covid-19 vaccines,1 and similar reports have emerged globally.2 Vaccine hesitancy tied to religious faith can undermine progress towards public safety,34 especially against a backdrop of increasing fervour for religious exemptions and ongoing misinformation about vaccine safety.5 As we continue to work on managing covid-19, however, the ability for multisectoral partnerships and faith based dialogue to have a positive role during the pandemic has been underestimated.567

Diverse faith based forums can mitigate doubts about vaccines and promote constructive dialogue about health related decisions and public health safety.89 This kind of practical, community level dialogue is particularly needed to support the public’s decision making on vaccines. Learning from effective examples of collaboration can help healthcare providers listen to and communicate more effectively with religious communities during public health crises, especially when it comes to people from religious minorities who have historically been marginalised or silenced.35

For many people, religion is a way of life and their leaders can be a trusted resource for health information—even more so, at times, than medical doctors or public health institutions.1 Although widespread variation exists, there are numerous religious communities and faith leaders who are compassionate allies with medicine and public health. In his August 2021 message, for example, Pope Francis urged Catholics to consider vaccination an “act of love,” calling it a “simple yet profound way to care for one another.”10 Other faith leaders have framed vaccinations as a moral imperative and an act towards a “common good” that benefits our interconnected global communities.11

During the covid-19 pandemic, people from all backgrounds have struggled to critically evaluate the barrage of information being disseminated about vaccines or other health related matters. Religious leaders who encourage community members to follow medical experts can help to cultivate trust in medical science and public health policies.6 Such guidance can help community members deal with medical and scientific complexities.12 Guidance from religious leadership and sacred texts can also uniquely stir the human spirit with emotion, humility, altruism, and motivation in a way that is often absent from secular public health or scientific discourse.6 In many ways, having a robust body of scientific evidence is a necessary but not always sufficient condition for public health policies to be effective and people to get vaccinated.

We saw how many social inequities and people’s mental health problems were exacerbated by covid-19, further underpinning the importance of faith leaders, who are often a source of stability in times of crisis, to take up the charge in augmenting rather than hindering the care of their communities and society.13 In turn, when medical and public health teams openly embrace local community expertise and approaches—especially faith based communities—it often proves to be useful.89141516171819 The Ebola outbreak of 2014-16 in west Africa was a particularly telling example of this. Religious actors enhanced health service delivery and public health approaches to tackle Ebola in various ways, from developing and promoting health messages to incorporating health guidelines that adapted community behaviours for safe burial practices.17

The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) indicates that a “faith based health approach” would make at least one in four Americans who were initially hesitant more likely to get vaccinated against covid-19.1 These approaches can include a healthcare professional or leader from a trusted religious community directly discussing public health concerns and vaccine safety, administering vaccinations themselves, and holding outreach clinics in places of worship.56

From living room chats to public town halls, online gatherings to scientist in residence programmes, faith based groups readily engaging with public health and medical scientists has been found to be effective in advancing common aims.1819 Such forums provide spaces for open questions, relationship and trust building, and consensus seeking.891516 These examples are about advancing forms of cooperation, mutual assistance, and conscientious dialogue among different communities and stakeholders. We can learn from these examples. In fact, we must.

Health policy makers have been gradually recognising the value of multisectoral partnerships with religious organisations.16 Yet attention to the role of faith based communities in supporting vaccines and public health policies in the time of covid-19 is limited.714 Partnerships can facilitate trust and cooperation in religious communities that otherwise might be cautious of healthcare systems, medical science, or public health interventions, and can also inform policy makers about the views, priorities, resources, and needs of local communities.161920 Multisectoral faith based partnerships are also vital components of cultural safety, sensitivity, and anti-racist healthcare delivery that are becoming increasingly recognised as essential.2122

A common narrative that religion is at odds with medical science and public health may persist.4523 Nevertheless, the number of faith based communities that are dedicated to protecting the health of their members and wider society is another important story to tell and learn from. Unless the wider medical community appreciates the lessons of multisectoral partnership and constructive faith based dialogue, important public health policies that prevent illness and death may continue to be met with ambivalence, resistance, or fear.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None declared.

  • All authors are graduates of the Media and Medicine Certificate Program at Harvard Medical School.

  • Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; not peer reviewed.

References