Only 19,219 got the shot as against 36,664 beneficiaries

Mysore/Mysuru: With 52 percent of healthcare workers getting vaccinated during first round of vaccination drive till yesterday in Mysuru district, the Health Department officers are planning to wrap up in next two to three days without waiting for others to get it. 

From Jan. 16 to Feb. 5, only 19,219 healthcare workers have received the shot as against the target of 36,664 beneficiaries. This tepid response by healthcare staff has disappointed Health Department Officials who had expected good response from them. Initially, the response was very good but it dropped subsequently following rumours about people taking ill after being vaccinated. Many healthcare workers were scared to take the vaccine fearing Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI).

A senior Health Department Officer who has been involved in COVID-19 immunisation, opined that the Government of India should have made vaccine mandatory instead of voluntary. Under advantage of this, many Government healthcare workers have not taken the vaccine despite instilling confidence among them. 

While vaccination among the Healthcare staff in Private Hospitals was encouraging, it was very disappointing among the Government staff. “Our senior Health Department officers have taken the vaccine to prove that it is safe. But the healthcare workers are not ready to believe it. They think of using them as guinea pigs for the vaccination, he rued.

Calling it enough is enough, the Officer said they would wait for other healthcare workers for two or three more days and if they don’t turn up, they would wrap it and launch the second round drive for frontline workers comprising Police, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Corporation and Home Guards mostly from next week. In fact, the frontline workers were waiting for long to get the shot to protect themselves from the pandemic. The vaccinators wait for the whole day in immunisation booths expecting healthcare workers. But, hardly a couple of them turn up, that too under duress from seniors. “It is sad that we have to beg them to get vaccinated. In fact, they should have been in the forefront of receiving the vaccine to instill confidence among people. Now many of them have switched off their mobile phones to avoid the call to receive the vaccine. The biggest mistake the Government did was by making vaccination voluntary and not mandatory. We can only explain them the benefits of vaccine but we cannot force them to take it,” he bemoaned.