Sask. resident overcomes vaccine hesitancy, encourages others to do the same

David Okoro was on the fence about the COVID-19 vaccine. He and his wife were trying to stay safe by washing their hands and isolating. But Okoro ended up getting his shot in Regina this week and wants others to do the same. 

So what convinced him?

"I wouldn't feel comfortable looking at, especially health workers, and telling them, 'I have not been vaccinated,'" he said. 

"For society, the country that we have migrated to, in the interest of everyone around us, we have done our part."

Okaro said his hesitancy stemmed in part from distrust of massive pharmaceutical companies.

He said talk of the vaccine was hard to avoid and he felt the pressure of that. In the end, he and his wife both decided to help their community. 

"What it eventually ended up being for me was, this is a war. A war in which you get enlisted just by breathing. So, the least anyone could do is fight."

LISTEN | Dr. Kevin Wasko spoke with Stefani Langenegger about vaccine hesitancy on CBC Saskatchewan's The Morning Edition 

Okoro isn't alone in his hesitancy. Dr. Kevin Wasko, physician executive for integrated rural health at the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said such sentiment is certainly out there.

He said there's no straight answer to vaccine hesitancy, as so much of it depends on why the person is hesitating in the first place.

"The longer that we're in this and that we've been delivering vaccines and that we have a tried and true product, I think that that will help," he said. 

Wasko said there are people who are hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine, but there is also a group of people who are frustrated and angry about public health restrictions, who have pushed back about masks and are also now pushing back against the vaccine.

"For them, I don't think those types of feelings, of a society obligation or that sort of thing, are going to make a difference," he said. "For them, they're going to have to see what's in it for them, and I think perhaps it will be the ability to lift restrictions, return to normal."