Rumours affecting vaccination process

SHYAM SOOD
Rajouri June 02 :-‘Despite the availability of the vaccine, health authorities facing problems in vaccinating the people, especially in remote areas in Muslim-dominated habitations in rural and remote areas.
Few among many reasons behind low vaccination among majority community members are misinformed about the vaccine, religious grounds, and messages on social media about the ill-effects of vaccination.
In order to achieve the target, the district health authorities are now sending the teams to the doorsteps of the people to motivate/educate them about the vaccine and vaccinate them.
District Administration in the past has held several meetings, including virtual, with the religious leaders and had sought their cooperation to educate the people about the importance of vaccination.
Recently a message had gone viral on social media claiming that whosoever gets vaccinated shall die after two years.
The message was also carried by a daily Urdu newspaper which added more fear among the people in remote & urban areas.
As no action was taken against such rumour mongers the vaccination graph started decreasing in some health blocks of the district.
Now, under verbal orders health teams are visiting villages in every block for a house to house vaccination.
“The rumour mongering about COVID vaccine needs to be checked as the same can weaken the fight against covid” said Dr. Shalinder Sharma, head of Orthopedic Department, GMC Rajouri.
He appealed to intellectuals, religious preachers, civil society members, PRIs and village elders to form special groups at the village level and to assist field functionaries of the health department for pacing vaccination and also to motivate people for vaccination.
Meanwhile, people, including shopkeepers in theage group of 18-45 have expressed their resentment over the non-availability of the vaccine.