Covid-19 Vaccine: India has recently given a green signal to two Covid-19 vaccines and is all geared up to begin its mass-vaccination drive, in a week. The DGCI gave a nod to Oxford-Astrazeneca’s and serum Institute’s Covishield vaccine along with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for restricted emergency use, last week.


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With Covid-19 vaccination dry runs being conducted across the country, it will soon be time for the much awaited mass inoculation. However, a question still looms large, are the people ready to take the vaccine? Have the leaders been able to shed the apprehensions surrounding the new vaccines?


As per a recent survey conducted by LocalCircles, majority of Indians are hesitant to take the Covid-19 jabs even as the government is set to begin the mass inoculation process within days. Even as India logged over 1.5 lakh Covid deaths, people here aren’t showing much keenness for getting vaccinated.


69% people hesitant to take vaccine shot


As per LocalCircles, an online platform, 69% of people have expressed that they are in no rush to get the vaccine shots. In a survey conducted by the online pollster, in which 18,000+ responses were received from citizens residing in 224 districts of India, it was concluded that percentage of hesitant citizens remains unchanged at 69% from December 2020 to Jan 2021. Only 26% of citizens said that they will get it as soon as it becomes available via private or any healthcare channels, while 5% said they are health or frontline workers and will get themselves vaccinated on priority through government channels.


Parents remain a skeptical lot


As per the findings of the survey, only 26% Indian parents said they will get a COVID-19 vaccine for their children by April 2021. In the survey, parents were asked “If the COVID-19 vaccine is made available for school children, would you consider giving it to your child or grandchild?” Only 26% Indian parents approved of their children receiving the COVID-19 vaccine if it is made available by April 2021, or before school session.


Most people want government to get Pfizer and Moderna to conduct COVID-19 trials in India:


The survey indicated that owing to the efficacy of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, people apparently wanted the government to conduct their trials in India. Respondents were asked where the Government should make efforts to get Pfizer and Moderna to conduct COVID-19 vaccine trials in India such that these vaccines can also be made available commercially at the earliest.  It was found out that 61% citizens want the Government to conduct the test of these two vaccines in India.


People’s hesitation a negative sign for India’s vaccination effort?


The findings of the survey has indicated that most of the people are not eager to get vaccinated and this is likely to have a negative consequence on India’s effort to control the spread of COVID-19 unless the Central and State Governments, along with pharmaceutical industry work in tandem to keep citizens updated. Efforts need to made to create awareness around vaccine efficacy, side-effects and safety concerns, including adverse events and successes.


The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said that the government is ready to introduce the vaccines within 10 days. The first phase of vaccination will cover almost 30 crore people for vaccination. The healthcare and frontline workers and those above 50 years old will receive the jab on a priority basis.


[DISCLAIMER: ABP Network has not independently verified the accuracy of the survey]


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