‘Vaccine hesitancy a growing concern’

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 31

Top vaccine expert Gagandeep Kang on Thursday said vaccine hesitancy was a growing problem worldwide and India would also need to address it upfront.

Expressing satisfaction at the pace of Covid vaccine development, Kang said she was worried about vaccine hesitancy issues in India.

Current communication strategies around Covid vaccines were inadequate to address the challenge and needed to be tailor-made better.

The first woman working in India to be inducted as the Fellow of Royal Societies in 2019, Kang today said people would need to wear masks even after Covid vaccination as the world still does not know the impact vaccination will have on disease transmission.

“Until we have a better understanding of the effects of vaccinated populations on Covid transmission, we should continue wearing masks and taking precautions. We will learn more about this through effectiveness studies currently being designed by the WHO and of which India hopefully will be a part,” Kang said today. Kang said there was lack of evidence about levels of protection current vaccines would grant.