Hutterian Safety Council using education to help with vaccine hesitancy

While Hutterite communities in Saskatchewan deal with the same COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy seen across the country, the Hutterian Safety Council is providing education opportunities.

“I think it’s fair to say vaccination hesitancy is right across the board across society. I don’t think that cultural attributes play a role in that,” said David Tschetter, chair of the safety council.

“It boils down to individual beliefs and belief systems on whether or not parents or children or family members should be vaccinated and I think that is where the discussion needs to be focused around.”

While Tschetter doesn’t know the vaccination rates in Hutterite communities, he says he is hearing more and more communities have been booking vaccines.

Tschetter said the choice to get vaccinated is up to the individual, but to enable people to make the most informed decision, the council has been setting up town halls with health professionals. There, members of the community can ask questions surrounding the vaccine.

“I think it is fair to say to vaccinate or not to vaccinate has been a debate that precedes COVID-19 and I think COVID has simply brought it more to the forefront and has just amplified the discussion,” Tschetter said.

He said no matter where a person lives or what their profession is, there are questions about the vaccine.

“Let people ask the questions about areas that they don’t know and conspiracy theories or information they’ve come across online. Give them a relevant chance to get it out in the open in an open-discussion forum,” Tschetter said.

One thing Tschetter would like to see more information about is natural immunity for someone who recovered from COVID.

“There is a mentality for those people who have contracted COVID earlier on and have recovered from it are not as likely to contract it again and so there is this mentality that ‘I have recovered from COVID and therefore vaccinations are not applicable to me,’ ” Tschetter said.

He said the council hasn’t seen any community leaders try to stop health officials from coming in to deliver information and vaccines.

Last year, communal living communities dealt with a rash of outbreaks in Saskatchewan. Since those were eventually brought under control, Tschetter said communities have had almost no cases and maybe those communities could be looked at when it comes to researching if natural immunity lasts longer than 90 days.

“I think we do represent a unique opportunity to learn on whether or not that is the case or not,” Tschetter said.

Tschetter recently got a COVID vaccine and he wanted to let people know he had no side effects from it.

“It was fine for me and I think for the most part — and because many Hutterite communities have experienced COVID, most that got vaccinated will have an experience similar to mine,” Tschetter said.