The humanity facing one of the worst crises of modern times in the form of COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines provide effective protection against viral diseases, and are a must to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, as many as 273 candidate vaccines are under various stages of clinical and pre-clinical evaluation (WHO data, accessed on 8th April 2021). India has approved three vaccines for emergency use, namely Covaxin (Bharat Biotech), Covishield (Astra Zeneca) and more recently Sputnik V (Gamaleya Research Institute). Till date, India has vaccinated 105 million people, of which 12.9 million are fully vaccinated with booster doses. However, this is less than 10% of the total population, and if we want to stop control the deadly second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, about 60
percent of the population needs to get vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.

An unexpected phenomenon regarding COVID-19 vaccines is the reluctance of some people to get vaccinated, especially in India. This defies scientific logic and probably is driven by fake anti-vaccine posts circulating in the social media. Many are scared of unknown side effects and reaction to the vaccines, whereas some claim that the vaccines are unsafe and unnecessary. Some say that they are protected by God hence don’t need a vaccine. Some organisations have played their part in fostering the initial mistrust against vaccines.

Such fears are based on sheer ignorance. It is true that there are some reactions to the vaccines such as fever and body ache, but those symptoms are easily manageable and actually show that the vaccine is working. In very rare cases serious side effects such as blood clots have been reported, but these are also common with several other medications. Eventually, the benefit of vaccination for outweighs the extremely rare risks in some individuals, which can also be managed. Emergency approvals of these vaccines was given after the government was satisfied that the vaccine is reasonably safe while further trials continues. Even for this emergency approval, adequate clinical trial data has been taken into consideration. Hence, the vaccines are as safe as it gets. Several published
peer-reviewed papers have proven the efficacy of these vaccines, demonstrating that these are highly effective in preventing or reducing the severity of COVID-19 disease. There are reports of even vaccinated people getting infected and showing RT-PCR positive results on testing. However, it is not surprising as the vaccines don’t prevent initial infection but help fight the onset and progression of the disease. The vaccinated individuals would definitely avoid severe disease conditions and mortality.

God has given us a wonderful immune system but it will protect us only if help ourselves by getting vaccinated before it’s too late. Otherwise, why do we use a lightbulb invented by science, when god is supposed to lighten up your nights anyway, right? The scientific inventions are also gift of God that must be used to protect our lives. 

The RASSA Journal of Science and Society requests everyone to get vaccinated. It is our duty to the society to help fight against COVID-19 by getting vaccinated. It is also urged that the governments should start massive vaccination drives for achieving herd immunity for the huge Indian population, irrespective of age, caste, creed and geographical region.