Fear of the unknown, rumour mills making health workers think twice

Fear of the unknown, rumour mills making health workers think twice

Kamini.Mathai@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 19.01.2021

He was among the first doctors in Tamil Nadu to receive the Covid-19 vaccine when the drive began two days ago, and since then, Dr E Theranirajan, dean of Madras Medical College, has been doing the rounds at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Not so much to check in on his patients, but on his medical staff to assure them they are not guinea pigs for the vaccine.

“A number of healthcare and frontline workers are hesitant because of incorrect information spread on WhatsApp about vaccine side effects. Though they are in the medical field, they are susceptible to believing fake news,” he says.

A survey conducted among around 1,500 TN healthcare professionals in December found 55% were not willing to take the vaccine immediately and preferred to wait it out for six months. Dr Abdul Ghafur says he submitted his findings to the government to address fears among health workers immediately and scientifically. “The hesitancy is natural. All the other vaccines have been around for decades and they are mostly paediatric, so the apprehension was less. This is an adult vaccine, so fear is expected.”

On January 16, the first day of the vaccine roll out, Tamil Nadu hit less than 20% of its target with several healthcare workers not showing up at centres to be vaccinated.

The reason for vaccine hesitancy, says consultant psychiatrist Dr Mohan Raj, stems from a fear of the unknown fuelled by fake news on social media. “One just has to wait it out to overcome the skepticism,” he says.

Over the past few days, virologist Dr T Jacob John has been receiving calls from the medical fraternity questioning the efficacy of the vaccine. “The hesitancy is because of a lack of information, trust and transparency. Some doctors want to know why there is no choice on which vaccine is administered,” he says.

But health secretary J Radhakrishnan is not overly worried. “In TN, acceptance of a new vaccine has always been slow. We faced the same challenge with the HPV vaccine. Our aim is to ensure there are no adverse events in this rollout,” says Radhakrishnan. “We are like the tortoise in the fable. Slow and steady to the finish.”

Still, the government has begun aggressively debunking false claims on social media. From online live sessions, chats, and face to face group discussions, to positive social media testimonials from those who have taken the vaccine and WhatsApp messages calling healthcare workers the “chosen ones” and “lucky firsts”, the government is on a drive to dispel rumours, says Radhakrishnan.

Radhakrishnan says after the government’s drive, numbers across the state too have climbed by 125% to more than 10,000.