COURTESY HT JAN 20

Frontline health workers wary of taking Covid vaccination

Ravinder Vasudeva

ravinder.vasudeva@htlive.com

Chandigarh Counted as one of the states with lowest inoculation percentage of Covid-19 vaccine, tough time lies ahead for the Punjab with many associations of frontline health workers announcing to “boycott” jabs.

The associations fear side-effects of the vaccination and are of the opinion that the central government wants to use them as guinea pigs.

“Why we should come forward for the vaccination? We don’t have full faith in the vaccination as of now and to win our confidence, chief minister, health minister and senior officials of the government should be get vaccinated first,” said state president of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers association Kirandeep Panjola.

There are nearly 20,000 ASHA workers in Punjab who had played key role in fight against the Covid-19. The government also plans to include ASHA workers in the inoculation drive in the near future.

Similarly, Multipurpose Health Workers Employee Union (Men and Women), that claims around 8,000 members, also has decided not take the shots till the time the government allays all fears.

“Now, even the manufacturers of the vaccines have raised so many ifs and buts, advising that a person with some allergies should not take the vaccine. The government intends to use the lowest rank employee as a tool for experiment. Why don’t they start vaccinating the politicians first,” said president of the association Gurpreet Singh. The National Health Mission Employee Association also plans to boycott the drive.

“We have given the consent to vaccinate ourself when the government sent the data to the national portal. There is a strong feeling among our workers as well that we should boycott the drive and let the senior officers of the state and ministers take the jibe first. We are taking a call in this regard on Wednesday,” said president of the association Amarjeet Singh. There are around 9,400 such employees working with the health department as per the association.

State president for Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) Association Dr Gagandeep Singh said as such there is no call by the doctors to boycott the drive but there are definitely some fears among them relating to the efficacy of the vaccine. “There are certain fears even among the doctors at the PGIMR Chandigarh as well. The government must redress these fears immediately,” he said.