Online workshops help Canadians talk to vaccine hesitant family, friends

Free, online workshops with the aim of teaching Canadians how to talk to friends or loved ones who are reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine have ramped up this month.

Immunologist Dr. Yanet Valdez Tejeira is the B.C. lead for COVID-19 Resources Canada. She hired and trained a group of facilitators to help expand the organization’s Vaccine Conversations program for 2022, with the hope of helping more people navigate these difficult conversations.

“It’s for everybody and anybody that has a question about how to talk to people, how to address the issue of vaccines,” she explains.

“We’re trying to teach people how to listen and then to talk — rather than convince, or judge, or fix people.”

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Despite the near-daily pleas from public health officials, vaccine mandate at workplaces, and the introduction of vaccine passports — around 20 per cent of those eligible across the country are not vaccinated. Less than 50 per cent of eligible kids have received one dose.

“Some people, they don’t trust politicians, they don’t trust medical experts but they trust their friends and their relatives, and sometimes that has more impact.” 

She is very clear that her group is not trying to change the minds of the small minority who are staunchly anti-vaccine, but instead to figure out how to more effectively communicate with those who are reluctant, afraid, or misinformed.

“We have a good percentage of Canadians vaccinated. We have a certain percentage of people that are not vaccinated and really are vaccine deniers. But there is a percentage, we estimate around 10 per cent of people, that are not yet convinced about the data and there are many, many reasons,” she explains.

“This 10 per cent is quite heterogeneous. Our idea is to understand why they are not vaccinated.”

ValdezTejeira says some people have concerns about fertility and side effects. Others have been fully vaccinated against other diseases but say they don’t trust how quickly this vaccine was rolled out. Some fully vaccinated parents are nervous about their kids getting the shot. Others are just unsure who to trust — confused because they’ve encountered so much misinformation and disinformation.

RELATED: UBC club looks to combat COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

While the organization has a library of resources documenting the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, Valdez Tejeira says bombarding someone with scientific data is not an effective strategy.

“I think the best way is to tell your own story. I think the best advocates, in fact, for vaccination, are real people, not necessarily a doctor, not necessarily somebody that will tell them what to do. I think many people listen to their friends, their family, and I think that’s has an impact. So I think effective conversations are actually rooted in listening and empathy.”

And Valdez Tejeira says patience is crucial, even if it can be difficult to practice.

“You might not have any success the first time, maybe the second, the third, but little by little — you are always available for that person,” she says.

“What you want to do is open the door. Let them come and talk to you about their fears. Guide that person nicely and gently to make their own decision because you can’t make the decision for them. They have to make that decision. They have to be ready. It’s not easy because, as humans, we really want to respond. We have to really train ourselves to listen and listen actively. That takes time.”

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A key component of the workshops is role-playing, which allows participants to bring their specific concerns to the group, and play out scenarios where everyone can help brainstorm how best to respond.

“Then when you go and actually face the person you already have those responses in your head,” Valdez Tejeir notes.

“I love it when people come up and they start talking, it can be hilarious, but also very emotional at the same time because you realize how many people have these problems.”

One scenario Valdez Tejeira makes sure people are prepared for is bringing the conversation to a close if it isn’t going anywhere.

“If there is somebody that is actually really stubborn, at the end you can say, ‘Listen, I love you, I care about you, but maybe we can talk later,'” she explains.

“The pandemic has been so so difficult on many of us. Vaccines and all this mis- and disinformation are ruining relationships, in fact. So we don’t want to do that. I know families, parents and kids are in this situation in which they’re not even talking. It is sad, seriously. It’s not just the disease itself, but also all the problems regarding mis- and disinformation are impacting the population generally — everybody. It’s taking a toll.”

RELATED: ‘Stay calm and give facts’: how to talk to those who are hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine

With a rapid surge in cases across the country driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Valdez Tejeira says vaccines remain crucial in the fight against COVID-19. Although those who have been fully vaccinated now account for the majority of new cases, the unvaccinated are overrepresented in hospitalizations.

“What the vaccines are doing now, is avoiding your risk of having serious disease or illness, or needing a respirator, or going to the hospital or ICU,” she says.

“The vaccines are working.”

Do you live in Canada and have urgent Omicron questions?@COVID_19_Canada anonymous Q&A sessions are now open to any questions about Omicron, even if they’re not about vaccines.

Register here:https://t.co/RJ449Y2zLB

— Tara Moriarty (@MoriartyLab) January 9, 2022

While the workshop only runs once a week, the group also hosts a virtual question and answer session three times a week. ValdezTejeira says they’ve upped the frequency of these Zoom sessions in response to an onslaught of questions amid this latest wave of the pandemic.

More information is available online.