For months, Jason Lerato felt pressured to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and for months he held his ground.
At 47 years of age, the Manitoba man had stood firmly against all vaccines for decades, and nothing — advice from public health, assurances from his personal doctor, pressure from his wife — would change his mind.
Or at least that’s what Lerato thought as he sat down to talk with two vaccinated family members following a wedding this summer.
Now fully vaccinated, Lerato is hoping his experience will help both those saying no to the vaccine and those pushing to change their minds.
“If there was a flag that I could hold back then, it was the anti-vax flag and all things anti-vax, and maybe even anti-government,” Lerato tells Global News of what led him to so vehemently oppose vaccines that he pulled his daughters out of school immunizations for the the HPV vaccine.
But Lerato said over a three-hour conversation, his brother-in-law and sister-in-law — who both work in the medical field — were gently able to change his mind.
“They answered all my fears, questions, concerns — you know, all the theories that I believed in based on so-called doctors and scientists that pushed that the vaccine is going to kill you, that the government sought to control you,” he said.
“They did it with integrity, they did it with sincerity, they did it with love instead of trying to push it down my throat.
“It just flipped me around.”
When he got home after the wedding, Lerato said his wife was shocked to hear him say he was booking his first vaccine appointment.
He’s since received his second shot and on Monday he officially got his proof of vaccination QR code.
“Honestly, it’s like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulder,” he said. “You know, when you follow those theories, whether it be called conspiracy theories or theories, it puts a huge weight on you because it consumes you.”
He was not coerced to get the vaccine to allow him to go to sporting events or restaurants. Lerato said that was never a factor and he was always willing to give that all up.
“I didn’t do it so I could go to concerts. I didn’t do it to go eat at a restaurant or go to bombers games. I was actually set in my mind to say, I don’t need that,” he said.
Lerato said after sharing his experience with friends who were also hesitant, at least two others have gone on to get their first shots, too.
“I was there, you know. Those who don’t believe in the vaccine or the government, I get it,” he now said.
“They truly believe that it’s either going to harm them, kill them, or the government’s out to get them.”
“What it’s going to take is someone like my two family members who came alongside of me and said ‘OK, let’s talk about it.’”
While Manitoba’s vaccination rates have been relatively strong, pockets of the province — especially parts of the Southern Health region — have been more resistant to the shots than others.
A provincial site tracking vaccination efforts shows 85.2 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received one shot of vaccine and 81.2 have received two doses.
But the numbers are much different in parts of the Southern Health district like Winkler, where vaccine uptake is just over 41 per cent and the RM of Stanley, where uptake is less than 25 per cent.
Manitoba Premier Kelvin Goertzen has encouraged an approach similar to what changed Lerato’s point of view to reach those who remain hesitant.
“I don’t know of anybody who’s changed your mind in an argument on on Facebook where I’ve seen people make a decision to become vaccinated when they weren’t going to be vaccinated.,” Goertzen said recently.
“It is because … you’re having those individual conversations or there’s somebody they trust in the community or in their circle of friends or in their business, that’s ultimately, I think, where we’re probably moving moving the dial on on vaccination.
“I don’t want people to think that it is a false choice. I want people to know it’s the right choice.”
Lerato said those who are opposed, hesitant, or untrusting of the vaccine should talk to friends and family about what led them to get the jab.
“I know my family and I know they come from a place of sincerity and concern, and that’s what made all the difference,” he said.
“Find people that you trust, whether it be family or friends who’ve gotten the vaccine and ask them the questions.”
— with files from Brittany Greenslade
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
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