At a time when the people across the country are waiting for the first vaccine shot, some people with access to the system are taking another jab of covaxin. The impact of Covaxin after Covidshield is not known yet and there have been no clinical trials for the same.
The doctors said that this should be declared a crime because unless everyone is safe, no one is safe. Dr Prsanna of the Private Hospitals and Nursing Association (PHANA) said that the government must restrict the photo id allowed for vaccination purposes because most of the people have multiple id cards, they are using different IDs to get what is being called ‘booster dose’.
India’s vaccination drive is being slowed down especially by two kinds of people – greedy people in cities, where the person with access to the system is getting multiple doses and fooling the government (also because it is free, they do not see a problem in getting multiple doses without spending a single penny); and the second is the rumour mongers whose impact can be seen in villages.
In the rural areas, the people are scared due to rumours that vaccination is leading to death and the media, opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav are party to this crime. It must be said – Indian mainstream media deserves a thrashing for its horrendous anti-vaccine coverage at a time when they should have been urging all eligible citizens of the country to get vaccinated as a matter of national duty. Instead, they sought to, in cahoots with opposition parties, fearmonger the people of India. This resulted in many healthcare and frontline workers, apart from people above the age of 60 not getting vaccinated – since they were among the very first beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccination drive which started in mid-January. Now that the catastrophe of a second wave has unfolded before our very own eyes – everyone wants a vaccine.
But there is definitely a vaccine shortage – since backlogged beneficiaries too are turning up for vaccination only now, leaving a vaccine scarcity for the latest beneficiaries between the age of 18 to 44. The mainstream media and opposition parties played a big role in producing a fear psychosis among Indians with regards to the Covid-19 vaccine. Part of the media’s ridiculous vaccine coverage can be blamed on their rather extravagant lack of scientific acumen, while most of it has much to do with sensationalism and coverage of what opposition parties have to say about the jabs.
In a recent letter addressed to interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP National President J P Nadda called out opposition leaders, particularly those from the Congress, for waging an anti-vaccine campaign laced with misinformation in order to derail the country’s Covid-19 fight. “Throughout last year, when our scientists, doctors and innovators were racing against time to find a vaccine, your party leaders left no opportunity to mock these efforts. A vaccine that is made in India should be a matter of national pride. Instead, Congress leaders tried to ridicule it and create doubts in the minds of people,” Nadda said.
The need of the hour is to criminally prosecute members of the media and opposition leaders for spreading misinformation against Made in India vaccines. Media houses must be subjected to punitive penalties for their brazen and unscientific coverage of the country’s vaccination drive. Also, the people in the cities who are trying to fool the government for the multiple doses (booster shot) because they have access to free jabs, must be punished.
