Hesitancy hurting pace of vaccination

Four days after the first phase of the nationwide vaccination drive against Covid-19 got underway, over four lakh persons have received the vaccine. The exercise, which is the largest in the world, has multiple challenges and called for a lot of planning and coordination involving much logistics, technology and personnel. The whole nation was waiting for ‘V-Day’ and it was welcomed with a lot of cheer and relief. But days into the exercise, there are some issues that need to be addressed and resolved. Cautionary notes had been made about some of these issues even before the exercise started. Some of the apprehensions have come true, as reports from various states have indicated. In the coming days, the spread and pace of the exercise will increase and so the lessons from the first few days need to be studied and acted on.

The lack of a positive and enthusiastic response to inoculations by many people is a cause of concern. In many states, most of those who were invited to take jabs stayed away. There are several reasons for it. The Co-WIN app, which is a facilitator, was reported to have developed some glitches. Maharashtra had to suspend vaccination for two days because of this. Some people may have had other engagements and because of the voluntary nature of the exercise, they may not have felt the urgency to take the jab on the appointed day. But the vaccine hesitancy and the reluctance of most people to go in for the vaccination is because of scepticism about the efficacy of the vaccine and fears about its side effects. Among the two vaccines that are being offered, Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, is not preferred by most people, and this is the major reason for the hesitancy.

The government and the agencies involved in the exercise have not been able to clear the doubts about the hurried approval for Covaxin “in clinical trial mode” in an actual exercise of mass vaccination. The data about its efficacy is not available. The government was in a hurry to roll out the vaccine and that has not helped. Trust is very important in all public programmes like this, and that comes only through transparency. If health workers and personnel are apprehensive about the vaccine, the response of ordinary people will be worse. Though some doctors were shown as taking the Covaxin shot, some others have asked for more information about it. It should be noted that the reservations are only about Covaxin. Since everyone was waiting for a vaccine, the resistance to it is unusual and abnormal. There is the risk of a setback to the entire programme because of this.