The global battle to get the world's population of over 7.7 billion people to voluntarily take covid19 vaccines is being undermined by medical experts and business magnates seeking to profit from their aggressive anti-vaccine campaign.

Here in Trinidad and Tobago (TT), media organisations such as the TT Publishers and Broadcasters Association, corporate bodies like Angostura, Ansa Mc Al Group, banks, supermarkets, religious groups and the government and a host of other organisations have been pounding the message for right-thinking people to step forward and get vaccinated as it is the only way to save lives, reopen the economy and return to life as we knew it prior to mid-March 2020 when the pandemic was declared.

Vaccine hesitancy and vaccine efficacy/branding are two of the major hurdles the government have to overcome to convince even health workers, who are in the front-lines of the danger zone, to take the jab. Its latest roll-out of 300,000 Sinopharm vaccines which began in July is not going according to plan as the anticipated number of people seeking to be vaccinated is just not measuring up.

In other countries, incentives of cash, free meals and other rewards are being offered to people to take the vaccine, something that the government may have no other option to follow.

The growing trend for private sector employees to pay for PCR tests every fortnight (average $800 per test) if they are not vaccinated is another coercive measure aimed at compelling people to get vaccinated.

Apart from politicians seeking to score points, health authorities have also been fighting a daily battle to respond to some of the most asinine queries from even the media on unfounded claims posted by our own anti-vaxxers on social media.

With the number of deaths attributed to covid19 standing at 1,070, with 38,557 cases over the last 16 and a half months, the target to vaccinate two thirds of the 1.4 million people here before year's end seems to be a daunting task.

At last count, 191,881 people were fully vaccinated and 382,149 received their first shot, according to the Ministry of Health release on Friday.

Of even more concern, is the rapid spread of the more potent delta variant which is reversing the reopening of economies in first world countries and real risk of it entering our borders.

A 40-page report commissioned by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a UK/US non-profit non governmental organisation "that seeks to disrupt the architecture of online hate and misinformation" identified 12 of the top anti-vaxxers "who play leading roles in spreading misinformation about covid vaccines."

[caption id="attachment_904520" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Cover of The Disinformation Dozen, a report on 12 anti-vaxxers done by Center for Countering Digital Hate -[/caption]

In the report dated March 24, entitled The Disinformation Dozen, the 12 people were selected because they have a combined audience of more than 59 million followers on social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and