Hesitancy Among Pregnant Women To Get Vaccines Still Prevalent in Tamil Nadu: Data

However, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian was optimistic that the volume of pregnant women getting inoculated will increase in the days to come.

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Chennai: Hesitancy and fear about Covid-19 vaccination still prevalent among pregnant women in Tamil Nadu, revealed a statistics provided by the state public health department which showed that the number of vaccines administered on pregnant women continues to be low. In a release on Saturday, the public health department said that as of August 16, out of 7,08,342 pregnant women in the state, only 2,58,994 were administered vaccines. The data shows that roughly only 37 percent of pregnant women are vaccinated in the state.

The doctors also revealed that the reduced number of vaccinations among pregnant women is due to hesitancy among the new mothers and their families. Dr Rajani Varrier, a gynecologist in Madurai told IANS: "The pregnant mothers are at high risk to get infected as they frequent hospitals for check-ups. In most cases, families are using delaying tactics from the antenatal mothers taking the jab as there is a fear that this would affect the overall health of the mother as well as pose a threat to the fetus. However, this notion is totally wrong."

"The understanding is a misconception and even after sustained and systematic campaigns conducted by the government, the awareness seems to be low and more awareness programmes are the only way to overcome this obstacle which I am sure the state health department would do in the days to come," the senior doctor added.

Dr MS Hemalatha, additional health officer of Chennai City Corporation also said that the doctors and paramedics of the Corporation have been motivating the expecting mothers to administer the jab whenever they show up at the community health centres or urban health centres.

"We call upon all our staff including nurses to make these pregnant women aware of the need to vaccinate them and in most cases they return back stating that they would consult the family and come back," she said.

However, Chennai Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology (IOG) responded positively. Even as the average number of vaccines is less in Chennai compared to the state average, the IOG data revealed that all the pregnant women who approached the hospital were vaccinated.

Dr S Vijaya, Director, IOG said that the hospital conducted proper counselling among expecting mothers and this led to a 100 percent inoculation. She said that after the jab, the hospital had followed up with each pregnant woman and found that they did not have any health issues.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian was, however, optimistic that the volume of pregnant women getting inoculated would increase in the days to come. Speaking to IANS, the Health Minister said: "We have conducted proper awareness and will conduct more awareness programmes among the families on the positive aspects of vaccination among pregnant women. I am certain that the figures would improve in the days to come and people are largely cooperating on the vaccination drive of the government."