Troubled by fears of a significant section of health care workers refusing to come forward to get vaccinated against Covid-19, the government on Thursday released a set of IEC (Information Education and Communication) posters to address the issue of vaccine hesitancy.

“The paradox is that countries across the world are asking us for access to vaccines while a section of our own is fomenting misinformation and doubts for narrow political ends,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said while releasing the posters.

There have been reports that many healthcare workers, mainly paramedical personnel, have stayed away from taking vaccine shots, thus reducing the number of vaccinations carried out in various States. Vaccine hesitance was the second major reason, after the glitches in Co-WIN software, for the poor realisation of vaccinations in many States so far.

“Let us put a stop to these falsehoods,” Vardhan said urging people to seek correct information from authentic sources.

Explaining the role of vaccination in eradicating diseases, the Minister said, “The elimination of polio and smallpox was made possible by large scale immunisation. Once immunised, not only that person is not capable of catching the disease, he/she is also unable to transmit the disease to others thus passing on the social benefit to the larger society he/she interacts with….Vaccination against Covid will similarly create persons incapable of transmitting the disease and eradicate the disease altogether in some time.”

“All eminent doctors of well-known hospitals have taken the vaccine and praised the exercise for its desired end. It is only a handful of vested political interests who are interested in spreading rumour and encouraging vaccine hesitancy among those vulnerable to such propaganda,” he said. Prominent doctors along with many other healthcare workers in the government and private sector have taken the Covid-19 vaccine and have returned to their work without any side effects, the Minister added.

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