Haldimand’s Dr. Matt Strauss offers one-on-one approach with those hesitant for a vaccine

Living in Haldimand-Norfolk and concerned about getting the COVID-19 vaccine? You might get a call from the new acting medical officer of health.

In an effort to understand why vaccination uptake has lagged among certain age groups, Dr. Matt Strauss said he spent part of his first two weeks on the job returning messages left on the health unit's vaccine hotline by residents who are wary of getting the shot.

In addition to making some of these phone calls myself, I have been reaching out and meeting religious leaders, family doctors, community leaders in (Haldimand-Norfolk), trying to understand where the pockets of hesitancy are and what motivates that hesitancy," Strauss told reporters on Monday.

Strauss said he agreed with the idea that vaccine hesitancy represents a crisis of trust in public institutions."

It's not the case that folks don't have access to facts from quality medical institutions. It's often the case that folks don't trust the facts," he said, explaining that at this stage of the pandemic, contextualized, personalized conversations" with unvaccinated residents are needed to build trust and transparency."

Dr. Dominik Mertz, associate professor of infectious diseases at McMaster University, agrees that individual outreach is now the best way to convince the remaining holdouts of the effectiveness and safety of vaccines.

I think public education, we did what we could, and at this point it's really just the one-on-one approach that will probably bring us forward," Mertz said, adding he and other physicians routinely have non-judgmental conversations with unvaccinated residents.

That group that's more on the fence seems to hear about the concerns that are certainly shared by the anti-vax movement, and are unsure because of that," he said.

But with the right information, they can get reassured, and many are now stepping up and getting vaccinated."

Strauss is particularly worried about unvaccinated adults in their 40s, 50s and 60s, who he sees as most likely to die of COVID-19 in the fourth wave.

My overwhelming priority is to prevent death in that 40-to-60-year-old cohort," he said.

That makes sense, said Mertz, since while those 70 and up remain at highest risk of getting seriously sick or dying of COVID-19, most of our elderly population is quite well vaccinated at this point."

Strauss stopped short of making a blanket recommendation that those in their teens and 20s get the shot, instead urging anyone who has concerns to speak with their family doctor.

And I trust, in general, those folks will in fact render a recommendation to get it," he said.

I can say that the preponderance data that I have seen suggests that a 14-year-old should receive the vaccination."

While talking with unvaccinated residents, Strauss said concern about myocarditis in healthy young men" has come up repeatedly."

The latest data, he said, suggests while the heart condition is a possible side effect of the vaccine, particularly in young men, it appears to be the case that you're more likely to escape a negative health outcome by getting the vaccine than you are to cause a negative health outcome."

Mertz did not downplay the risk of myocarditis, but said as a vaccine side effect it is mild" and easily treated. The rate of myocarditis among COVID-19 patients is higher than in those receiving the vaccine, he noted.

J.P. Antonacci's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk.