Health workers in Meghalaya reluctant to take COVID-19 jabs, says official

Health workers in Meghalaya are''reluctant'' to take COVID-19 vaccine shots, with only 27 percent of the over 33,000 beneficiaries having turned up forinoculation thus far, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The northeastern state has received 35,000 Covishielddoses for the first phase of the vaccination process, HealthServices Director Aman War told PTI.

''Only 9,017 of the 33,185 COVID-19 beneficiaries inthe state have taken the shots, and none has reported anyadverse effect following immunisation (AEFI),'' he said.

East Khasi Hills district, where state capitalShillong is located, and Ri-Bhoi district have recorded thelowest turnout, official records have shown.

According to the statistics on COWIN portal, more than50 per cent of health officials who have registered themselveswith the app in 10 out of the state's 11 districts have failedto turn up at designated centres.

In Ri-Bhoi, only 275 of the registered 2,406 frontlineworkers took the shot, while in East Khasi Hills, 2,163 of12,604 eligible beneficiaries received the jab, War said.

On the contrary, 62 per cent of the 1,564 healthcareworkers in South West Garo Hills have come forward to receivethe first dose so far, setting an example for the rest of thestate, he said.

War urged all health workers to get vaccinated withoutany fear.

''Several health workers are reluctant to take the jab.

Many of them have fallen prey to rumour mills,'' he told PTI,adding that the first round of the vaccination process islikely to be completed by the third week of February.