As Covid cases surge in India, 77% of people more willing to take vaccine: Report

The survey stated that around 52% of people who took the vaccine did not have any side effects

As India is inching towards a possible second wave of coronavirus, the percentage of Indians willing to take the vaccine has increased to 77 per cent from 38 per cent in three months, according to a new study.

The country on Saturday recorded 89,129 new Covid-19 cases, the highest daily rise in around six-and-half-months, taking the nationwide tally of infections to over 1.23 crore.

Read | 8 states witness steep rise in Covid-19 cases, account for 81.42% of single-day infections

The survey on vaccine hesitancy was conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform. It studied over 27,000 responses from citizens located in 299 districts of India.

The study showed a steep rise among the people to take the vaccine. According to their findings, it went up from 38 per cent to 77 per cent in 75 days post the vaccination drive began in the country. It also stated that around 52% of people who took the vaccine did not have any side effects.

Credit: LocalCircles

The decline in the hesitancy started after the cases began to rise in the country around mid-March. Now, only 23 per cent are hesitant to take the coronavirus vaccine.

Side-effects of vaccine

The survey studied 9,501 respondents who took the vaccine, among them 52 per cent of citizens said that they ‘had absolutely no side effects’ and most of the others had mild symptoms like fever, body ache, and soreness in the arm. Only 2 per cent of the lot said that they had side effects more severe than others.

Read | In highest spike of 2021, India records 89,129 Covid-19 cases, 714 deaths

Covaxin of Covishield?

Though Indians have not been given an option to choose a vaccine. The LocalCircles found out that most people preferred Covaxin over Covishield.

Among the 8,432 responses, people’s preference for Bharath Biotech’s vaccine is slightly more with 33 per cent, while 22 per cent opted for Oxford University and AstraZeneca developed Covishield. Further, 37 per cent of people said that they didn’t have any preference and only 5 per cent said that they would wait for another vaccine to come.

The low preference for Covishield could be due to restrictions by other countries on the vaccine.