Delhi High court has criticized the caller tune message of the center
asking people to get vaccinated. It said the irritating message was being
played for “we don’t know how long” asking people to get the jab when there was
not enough vaccine.
“You are not vaccinating people, but you still say that vaccination
lagavaiye (get vaccinated) kaun lagayega vaccination (who will get vaccinated),
when there is no vaccine? What is the point of the message,” a bench of Justice
Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli.
The bench also said, “You should give it (the vaccine) to everyone.
Even if you are going to take money, give it. That is what even children are
saying”.
Last year there was a caller tune regarding washing hands and hygiene
to spread awareness among people about Covid-19, this year also the government
can use messages regarding oxygen cylinders, concentrators, Medicines, and
others to ensure people are able to use them properly.
The Court said the government needs to be more innovative in such
things instead of just preparing one message and using it even when the ground
situation is changed. The government needs to make changes according to the
current situation.
It also suggested using TV anchors and celebrities to do interviews
with doctors and videos related to oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, or
on vaccination "need to be made soon" to make people aware.
"We are losing time. There should be a sense of urgency" the
bench added and asked the Central and Delhi government to give their reports by
18 May on steps they are going to take to spread important information on Covid
19 through print and TV media as well as dialer tunes.
Vaccine Rumors
For avoiding the hesitation among the public for being vaccinated
needs to be cleared by the government by providing crystal clear data on how the
vaccine works, how much protection it provides and what can be the reasons that
even a vaccinated individual can catch Covid-19 but that is normal.
No vaccine gives 100% protection. The government data shows different
data altogether showing just 0.2-0.4% breakthrough infection rates which even
the manufacturing institutions don't claim.
The perspective of the government on this is to erase hesitancy but
things are not working for them as well and the reason is that the government
has dropped the ball in the second wave and there are high chances of the third
wave as well. So they need to focus on how to bring the situation under control
using all their clever minds.
Registration
Problems
Knowing the spike in cases, the center has allowed everyone above the
age of 18 to get vaccinated in the third phase of the vaccination drive
starting from the first of May.
However, in this third phase of the vaccination drive, the government
says there will be no walk-in registrations. People below 45 will have to
register either via CoWin Portal or the Arogya Setu app.
But when the registration started, getting an appointment became much
like a challenge. People are facing glitches in the app; they are not able to
log in even after multiple attempts and also have not received OTP.
Storage of
Vaccine
Due to the shortage of vaccines in the country many states –
Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka have now temporarily halted
vaccination drives for the people of age group 18- 44. The vaccine purchased
directly by the state for vaccination of this group will now be used for the
vaccination of recipients who are due for the second dose.
The lawmakers have also criticized the government for allowing the
export of millions of doses earlier in the year and have considered that also
as a reason behind the shortage in this devastating Covid-19 wave.
In India only about 23 million people are fully vaccinated, not even
10% of 300 million which this government expected to vaccinate by August. And
vaccinating the population of 1.3 billion Indians seems like a big challenge to
them considering the current situation of shortage of vaccines.
Stressing on some facts and figures the pace of vaccination has slowed
down to an average of 2.5 million from 3.5 million vaccines a day in the month
of March due to shortage.
With increasing cases around 2 lakhs per day ,shows the urgency of
vaccinating a huge population is the only solution in hand, and by not
systematically communicating with people and addressing the nation telling them
just to have patience and faith will not work as good medicine for them.
They definitely have to change their communication strategy among
themselves and with the nation to get a clear picture of the current scenario.
There have been rumors among people about how government publishes
manipulated data related to Covid-19 deaths in the country and in this crucial
time of crisis if the public will lose trust on government then things will get
worse which will be beyond imagination.
Written by - Kriti Verma
Edited by - Adrija Saha
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