Rope in experts to dispel vaccine rumours
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 14, 2021 -

ROBVE Solephe village under Mao assembly segment reportedly completing total vaccination of its eligible residents contrary to Senapati district, under which Mao AC falls, faring poorly in the vaccination percentage implies that mere awareness campaigns on benefits of taking the vaccines through the mass media will not suffice in countering the slew of rumours and libellous tales on the social media against the Covid-19 vaccines.

Rather, the Robve Solephe village success story demonstrates that public figures and individuals of repute can play a huge role in convincing the commoners to take the jab.

For instance, there had been numerous reports of PHE minister and Mao MLA Losii Dikho travelling or trekking to interior villages under his assembly constituency to provide relief and medicinal items to both the villagers and healthcare centres ever since the spread of second wave of the pandemic compelled the government to prohibit movement of the people and curb livelihood activities.

In sharp contrast, some of the so-called people's elected representatives, especially of assembly constituencies in the hill areas, had been invisible and inactive during this crisis period when the people need them the most.

With incidents of post-vaccination adverse effects sporadically cropping up, it is but natural for the ordinary citizens to become reluctant and avoid the jab with such apprehension most glaring in villages where the contagion has not been felt as yet.

As such, minister Dik-ho making it a point to personally visit the interior pockets and consequently winning the trust of the residents could one of the reasons for the Robve Solephe villagers to achieve the 100 per cent vaccination rate.

Had the minister, like some of his legislator colleagues, opted to confine himself within the homely comfort of the government accommodation here in the state's capital, then it wouldn't have been possible for the border village having 33 households to become the first revenue village in Senapati district to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

As reported, the announcement that all the eligible Robve Solephe villagers have received their jabs, was preceded by vigorous efforts of the minister to conduct mass vaccination in his Mao constituency, physical presence at vaccination camps and boosting the morale of sub-divisional officials and medical personnel.

Though the number of households in Robve Solephe village is not significant, the achievement of the village is indeed laudable for the vaccination rate is not only unimpressive in Senapati district but also in the state where only a little over 7.81 lakh of the 20 lakh-plus adult population have been administered the first dose of the vaccine so far.

As continuous damning of the public for the vaccine hesitancy syndrome will not be fruitful to the government's endeavour of inoculating as much as possible, the state's machinery will either have to ensure convenient access to the vaccination facilities or chalk up strategies to neutralise the overwhelming rumours against the vaccination exercise.

The government cannot ignore the fact that there are increasing number of self-proclaimed experts, who create false facts, propagate misinformation, snowball rumours and forward wrong claims on social media.

Each of these actions has the potential to influence mass reaction to the on-going vaccination drive.

Thus, in view of the flurry of news, information, debate and discourse on the pros and cons of vaccination, the public's curiosity must be addressed with compassion.

As political figures extolling about the vaccination drives has not been very successful in improving the vaccination rate, it is likely that the public would be more impressed if their doubts over the vaccines are put to rest by experts in the field of virology, epidemiology, infectious disease, etc., or even researchers well versed with development of the vaccines.