In 2020, India dealt with the spread of the Covid-19 with the aid of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as maintaining social distancing, masking, sanitizing and regular hand washing. However, in 2021, India came up with medical intervention in the form of Vaccines that are building immunity against Covid-19.

Although it takes years and a rigorous process for vaccines to get approval; in view of unprecedented times, fast-track approval has been given to vaccines for mass inoculation. Every individual is responding differently to the idea of vaccination and fake news is serving as fuel to the fire. This has led to vaccine hesitation among some adults in the country.

Today in this video, we will know what Vaccine Hesitancy is and how we can move towards vaccine acceptance to benefit our own selves and society.

Word in Spotlight: Vaccine Hesitancy

The World Health Organisation has defined vaccine hesitation as 'delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccine service.' According to WHO, vaccine hesitancy varies across time and place. Hence, it is important to note that routine vaccines for Indian adults are not common as against inoculation in children in India. Due to this, there are behavioural and attitudinal barriers to the idea of vaccination among adults in India. In order to eliminate the hesitation, the government is creating awareness since the mass vaccination drive commenced in India on January 16.

External forces that ignite Vaccine Hesitancy

The major driving force of vaccination hesitancy finds its roots in misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. More than 250 million users have access to social media, which is often flooded heavily with misinformation related to health. The government is constantly busting fake news to inform and educate the people of the country. Some of the myths busted about the vaccines are:

Fake news: Covaxin is not as safe as the Covishield vaccine
Fact: Both Covishield and Covaxin were launched after multiple tests and trials. Both the vaccines are safe. PM took the first dose of Covaxin on 1st March 2021

Fake: A person will remain protected only for six months after the vaccination
Fact: The longevity of the immune response in individuals is yet to be determined. Hence, continued use of mask and sanitiser is strongly recommended

Fake: Drinking warm water or turmeric milk will kill the Covid virus in your body
Fact: There is no such evidence that drinking warm or turmeric milk will kill the Covid virus in your body. However, these can help in boosting immunity

Fake: Covid-19 virus gets automatically destroyed in high temperatures
Fact: There's no such proven fact that Coronavirus gets destroyed in high temperatures

Initiatives by the government to curb fake news

The Indian government launched its mass vaccination drive on 16th January 2021 and more than 17 crore citizens have been inoculated to date.

From the beginning, the government rolled out a communication strategy to disseminate timely, accurate and transparent information to be available to the people in order to curb the misinformation. The Union health ministry reached out to various social media platforms to bust the myths whenever possible to increase the acceptance of Covid-19 vaccines.

MyGov, the government's citizen engagement platform, dedicated telegram channels for tracking rumours and misinformation at the field level and to develop a library of factual information.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Mann Ki Baat broadcasted in April focused on spreading information regarding vaccination and encouraging people to get vaccinated.

Recently, in order to combat the spread of misinformation, IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, had asked social media platforms to remove old, unrelated and out of context images and visuals which were being misused to spread inaccurate information about the pandemic and vaccines.


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