Vaccination drive: Why people show reluctance

It has been nearly two months now since the government has started the vaccination drive to combat the deadly COVID-19 pandemic across the country. However, shocking revelation has come to the fore with one of the associations of doctors in Kashmir stating that only one per cent of the population in Jammu and Kashmir has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far. The revelations have put a question mark over the ongoing COVID vaccination drive. According to the association, the less percentage of the people getting vaccinated means that most of the people are still susceptible to COVID-19 infection. As per the vaccination data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, J&K has administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 6,34,953 people as on March 30, 2021. The figure represents 5 per cent of J&K’s 1.25 crore population. Full vaccination (both doses) has been given to 1, 42,895 people which represent 1 per cent of the population. The expert has called for at least 70 per cent of the population should be covered under the vaccination drive. Therefore, there is a need to vaccinate more and more people at an earliest to combat the virus. However, the government in this regard has to start massive awareness among the masses through different platforms to ensure that at least 70 per cent of the people as per the experts receive their vaccination shot. The government should also understand the reasons behind less number of people taking part in the ongoing vaccination drive so that the concerns are addressed and the efforts being made will not come to a grinding halt.