THE NEED FOR SPEED

Calls for roping in the private sector grow as India’s Covid vaccination drive—being extended to senior citizens in March—runs way behind target

- SONALI ACHARJEE

When Dr Dinesh Kapadia decided to register for Covid vaccination in New Delhi, he met with fierce resistance from his wife and two children. The reason: at 72 years of age, they felt, Dr Kapadia was too old to risk the potential side-effects of the vaccine. Unable to convince his family, Dr Kapadia quietly got inoculated. It was only two weeks later that he let his family know.

“I was absolutely fine. The only strenuous bit was waiting in the crowded vaccination centre. Otherwise, I had no other stress, no post-vaccine symptoms, not even swelling at the site of injection,” says Dr Kapadia. He believes age should not be the decider. “Age is just a number. Whether or not to take the vaccine should be decided on the basis of one’s history of allergies, health condition and state of mind. If the process was better communicated and simpler, more people would come forward.”

As India gears up to start vaccinating those above 50 against Covid from early March—11 million health and frontline workers have taken the shot in the first two phases—fear and confusion dog people. The apprehension isn’t only about the side-effects of the vaccine but the process of taking it. For instance, Asha Singh, a 75-year-old retired banker living in Bengaluru’s Koramangala, says she has received at least 12 social media forwards about how to register for the vaccine—all of them misleading.