New Delhi: The Central Government on Tuesday has expressed serious concern over reports of Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy shown by health care workers.
Stating that such hesitancy may put others at stake, NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul appealed people to come forward and get vaccinated.
"Doctors, nurse, health workers are hesitating to take vaccines. We should not refuse to get vaccinated. This will protect everyone. If somebody does not take an assigned vaccine, it will pose a threat," said Dr Paul.
Several members of the health fraternity have been demanding for a particular vaccine instated of the one assigned to them. The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) at RML hospital has been demanding for COVISHIELD.
The Health Ministry has also been getting reports that health care workers in states and Union Territories have been declining to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Dr Paul reiterated that both the Indian vaccines COVAXIN and COVISHIELD are safe. "These two vaccines are highly immunogenic as per data. In the last three days, we have inoculated lakhs of people without getting any serious or severe adverse effect following immunisation (AEFI)," Dr Paul added.
Dr Paul said that he himself took COVAXIN and is totally well. He said that amid some minor glitches, vaccination in more than 3500 sites was robust.
"In the coming few weeks, the entire health system will be Covid proof. So, health workers should take the vaccine as a role model. Health workers need to get rid of false narrative and hesitancy over the vaccine," said Dr Paul addressing a press conference in New Delhi.
"We are also getting an intranasal vaccine for Covid19. And if it gets a green signal from the drug regulator, our vaccination process will gain further momentum," Dr Paul said. He said that states and UTs have also been asked to increase their testing and followup actions.
Reiterating that both the vaccines are safe, Dr Balram Bhargava, director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that in the last three days half a million people were vaccinated in three days. "These vaccines are totally safe. Vaccines prevent Covid-19 and it prevents deaths," he said."If we take the vaccine, the chain of virus transmission can be broken."
The Government has rolled out the Covid-19 vaccination process on January 16 with an aim to vaccinate the 3 crore health care and frontline workers in the first phase.
Talking on the vaccination coverage, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has said that states like Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Punjab has registered only 40 per cent vaccination. "We are in constant touch with concerned state Government and UTs and suggested to increase the number of people vaccinated," he said.
Tamil Nadu registered 34.9 per cent vaccination, followed by Puducherry 34.6 per cent and Punjab 27.9 per cent. States and UTs like Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan have registered a vaccination percentage between 71.3 per cent to 89.3 per cent.
Bhushan informed that 0.002 per cent were hospitalized while over a 0.18 per cent reported Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) across India. He further said that States like Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have been asked to increase their vaccination days. These three states are undertaking vaccination two days in a week whereas centre has suggested for four days vaccination.
With six days a week, Andhra Pradesh and Lakshadweep are the two states with the maximum number of vaccination days."India's Covid-19 vaccination on day one is far better than any other countries in the world. India recorded 2,07,229 vaccination on day one, US 79,458, UK 19,700 and France 73," Bhushan informed.
He said that at present five states including Kerala, Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal account for 72 per cent of active Covid cases.
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