Indians sceptical about Covid-19 vaccine

New Delhi: With chances of affordable Covid-19 vaccine likely to be available by February 2021, 59 per cent Indians divulged that they will not rush to take it, a survey revealed on Wednesday.

The last few weeks have given hope to the world with three vaccine makers - Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca releasing their efficacy data. Oxford-AstraZeneca has a partnership with Serum Institute of India for production and reports suggest that the vaccine could be available as early as February at Rs 500-600 per dose.

With the possibility of an affordable vaccine by February 2021, a survey was conducted by 'LocalCircles' to understand the hesitancy levels. The survey received more than 25,000 responses from citizens across 262 districts of India. The first question in the survey asked, "The Covid-19 vaccine is likely to be available from February 2021 via private and Government channels. If that happens, what will be your approach to taking this vaccine?".

Responses from 8,936 citizens were received. Of which, 8 per cent said, "I am a health or frontline worker and will get it on priority through the government", 13 per cent said "will get it as quickly as it becomes available via any healthcare channel", 11 per cent said "will get it as quickly as it becomes available via private healthcare channel". Another 59 per cent of respondents said that they will not rush to take the vaccine even if it is available in the near future.