New Delhi: Amid concerns over the slow pace of India’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, a new survey has found that 75 per cent Indians are in favour of the government allowing vaccine access to those aged above 18 years.
The survey by LocalCircles, a Noida-based community social media platform, sought responses on various issues about the irregularities in the vaccine administration process, including vaccine wastage and possible solutions.
To tackle vaccine wastage, 75 per cent of the 8,679 responses to the question were in favour of opening up the vaccination for everyone above 18 years of age “by permitting private labs and hospitals to vaccinate post 6 pm and charge slightly extra”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also flagged the issue of wastage of vaccine doses Wednesday and had urged the states to keep waste to a minimum.
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Irregularities in vaccination
According to the survey, 70 per cent respondents said that they did not experience or observe any irregularities.
Among those who had observed irregularities, 15 per cent had seen healthcare professionals influencing or falsely certifying people as co-morbid to allow them to get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, 3 per cent respondents said they witnessed “overcharging to qualify someone as co-morbid or as a health or frontline worker” and 5 per cent said they saw the leftover vaccines being administered to people “using influence or providing monetary gratification”.
The rest witnessed a combinations of these irregularities.
The survey concluded that while only 30 per cent respondents flagged irregularities in the vaccine programme, the government needs to plug the few that are there and ensure that the vaccines are administered to the right people.
It also stressed that the government should consider opening up the vaccination programme to more people. To date, 3.93 crore inoculations have taken place in the country.
The survey is based on the responses of 19,000 people across 281 districts of the country. Of these, 68 per cent respondents were men while 32 per cent were women.
(Edited by Rachel John)
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