Rumours about bad consequences of immunization often circulate in communities. If such negative rumours are not dealt with appropriately, they can cause serious problems for the effective delivery of immunization services.
Can you think of any rumours about immunization in your kebele? If so, what are they?
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Examples of some rumours that may be circulating are that:
- vaccines are a contraceptive to control births in the population, or to limit the size of a certain ethnic group
- children are dying after receiving vaccines.
You may have come across other rumours, which could be equally damaging to the success of an immunization programme.
What can you do about negative rumours? Any negative rumours about immunization that you hear are circulating should be communicated to your supervisor as soon as possible. The following suggested actions cannot be carried out by you alone, as the local Health Extension Practitioner; you will need the full involvement of health centre officials and the district Health Office. Immediate reporting is important and advice should be sought before you take action.
With their approval, these are the steps you should take if you come across a potentially damaging rumour about immunization:
- First, try to find out what the rumour is, who was the original source of the rumour and who is spreading the rumour now. Try to establish whether there is any reason for the rumour spreading — there might be a political or religious reason, or it might simply have arisen from lack of information or incorrect information about the immunization programme.
- Once you have gathered this information, arrange a meeting with opinion leaders such as local government officials, traditional and religious leaders, community leaders and other health workers. In the meeting, begin by providing information about the immunization programme and the diseases it can prevent. Try to ensure that those present are free to ask questions and express concerns. Discuss and reach agreement on collective ways to correct the negative rumour and the wrong information about the immunization service.
- Train your community volunteers on how to give the correct information about vaccines and how to deal with the rumour.
- Distribute posters and printed materials which give correct information about immunization to the public. Such materials may be made available by your local health centre or to support regional or national campaigns.
In the final study session in this Module, we turn to a crucial aspect of your immunization programme — monitoring and evaluating the outcomes.