ICFAI holds panel discussion on ‘Covid’
Ranchi, 1 February 2021 The ICFAI University Jharkhand organized a Panel Discussion on “Hesitancy of the people to take COVID-19 Vaccine and How to remove it?”. Medical Doctors on the discussion panel included Dr KP Sinha, Former Professor, Pathology, RIMS and Board Member on AIIMS, Deoghar and Aligarh Muslim University Ranchi, R K Rai, Chairman, 7 Palms Hospital and Research Centre, Ranchi, President, Indian Hospital Association, Dr Tapan Kumar Sahoo, HOD of Anaesthesia, Tata Steel Medica Hospital, Kalinganagar, and Dr. Akash Prasad, former Chief Dental Surgeon at Medica Super Speciality Hospital, Kolkata.
Welcoming the participants, Prof ORS Rao, Vice Chancellor of the University highlighted that due to the timely steps taken by Government of India, fatality rate for Covid-19 in India is one of the lowest in the world and that number of active cases have been coming down.
At the same time, new variants like UK and South Africa have been surfacing and hence the need to continue to be on our guard. Referring to the Covid-19 Vaccination Drive, Professor Rao said, “ During the first phase of Vaccination , which started on January 16, 30 million Healthcare workers people were targeted, out of which about 3 million were vaccinated till date. By August 2021, 300 million people are targeted, focusing on vulnerable groups of people aged over 50, and those with co-morbidities and Rs 35,000 cores is budgeted during 2021-22 for Covid-19 vaccination.”.
“However, some people are hesitant to take the vaccine due to various reasons like lack of awareness, wrong notions, misinformation, rumours, unknown fears etc. The objective of today’s panel discussion is to identify the possible reasons for the Vaccine Hesitancy and how it can be addressed so that vaccination drive can be accelerated.”, added Professor Rao.
As per the perception survey conducted by the University among the people, which included Health Workers, major reasons for Hesitancy are Fear of side effects and Doubts on the efficacy of the Vaccine. Allaying the fears and hesitations of the people, the panelists said, “The two vaccines were approved by Government of India after clinical trials and are safe. In very few cases there may be minor side-effects, as it happens with any other vaccine. Persons with allergic tendencies and that are using Immune-suppressants and blood thinners like Heparin should consult their Physicians before taking the Vaccination”. In order to address the hesitations of the general public, it was suggested that Government and Medical Fraternity and the media should work together to ensure that clear communication is given on the Vaccines and medical support that will be provided in case of rare side-effects so that confidence and trust of the Public are boosted.
The Panel was of the unanimous view that with collective efforts, it will be possible to remove the hesitations of the people and ensure that targets of the Vaccination Drive are met so that India becomes free from Covid-19 . Perception survey was conducted by Dr Raj Kumar, Dr Sudipta Majumdar and Prof SSP Shukla from the University. The panel discussion was coordinated by Professor O R S Rao.
