The whole world has been eagerly waiting for vaccine from so long, as this pandemic dragged the world to a standstill. And now when the vaccine had finally arrived after waiting for so long, the responses from the people does not seems to be in favour of vaccination.
After the first phase of the vaccination commenced, all of us have noticed that how number of people have been trying to get away with this vaccine as they are dubious over its use.
The first phase of the vaccination campaign in the country was started with the target of vaccinating around three crore healthcare workers and the frontline workers, but there have been instances where these frontline workers have shown resistance against getting vaccinated. This showcases that there is still fear within the corona warriors about getting vaccinated as the efficacy of the vaccine is doubtful.
Why there is such mistrust and fear among the health workers about the vaccine?
If we look back, on the outset of the vaccination drive many resident doctors of Delhi refuted to get vaccinated on the very first day of this vaccination campaign.
Such reports were received from other states as well; a large number of health workers did not reach their turn to get vaccinated. Now, even after a month, if this is the situation that health workers are not getting vaccinated, then it is a matter of concern.
We must first understand the exact reason behind this fear among the health workers. For instance, certain reports were received of few people dying after the first dose of vaccination. Though, later on deeper probe it was realized that their death was primarily due to other reasons and not due to vaccine. According to the Hindustan times, around 23 persons died post vaccination, but those deaths were not the adverse result of vaccine. Even Health Ministry reassured that both the vaccines are supremely safe.
But when it is about health, every effort must be made from the government’s end in order to make the vaccination drive a success in true meaning.
But, the adverse side effects observed post vaccination in some people also led a false message as well as a feeling of insecurity about getting vaccinated.
Also read: Bharat Biotech Issues Advisory On Who Should Not Take Vaccine?
Covaxin, which is being manufactured by the Bharat Biotech, is the Made in India vaccine which is being rolled out across the country along with Covishield, but the phase-3 trials data of Covaxin had not been released till date. This can too be one of the reasons behind such fear.
Citing these adverse effects, the vaccine manufacturing companies also issued guidelines telling who should not take vaccine people.
On the very first day of vaccination, Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi and Dr. V. K. Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog also proved the safety of the vaccine by getting vaccinated themselves. Therefore, if there is still a fear about vaccines, then it is surprising and this fear needs to be removed.
The vaccination drive needs to be hastened because, few states have started facing a second wave of the Coronavirus. States like Maharashtra and Kerala, again started showing a spike in the number of cases, which were found to be under control few days back. And the problem of second wave is not a new one for India, other countries like Britain, USA and Germany have already began to face this severe situation. So there is only one solid solution to it, that we must vaccinate people on the faster pace. It is time to pull up our socks in this drive.
This campaign could have been the best start if the leaders of our country would have got themselves vaccinated at the first moment. Because, people always look up on their leaders. Leaders like Joe Biden, President of USA, Kamala Harris, Benjamin Netanyahu, President of Israel, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and others got themselves vaccinated. But on the other hand, leaders of our country are still not coming up for it.
If they really want to take people in confidence and if they, are very sure about the efficacy of vaccine then why aren’t they being the part of this inoculation drive by taking the vaccine themselves. To help people coming over these suspicions and insecurities, our leaders must come up in order to make this biggest inoculation drive successful.