Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday claimed that most of the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff in Kashmir are opting out of Covid-19 vaccine.
“More than 80 percent of the healthcare workers have turned down the vaccine,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan said in a statement.
“Out of 7,000 healthcare workers at Government Medical College Srinagar and its associated hospitals, only 1,167 (16.67 percent) have received the vaccine as on February 09. 5, 833 workers (83.33 percent) have opted out of the vaccine.”
“It is a troubling development, especially since healthcare workers are at higher risk of contracting the virus and their sickness would mean disruption of healthcare delivery system. Medical staff would imperil patients by snubbing COVID19 shots,” DAK President said.
“Unvaccinated staff have the potential to transmit the disease to patients who are vulnerable to COVID related complications and death.”
He said the most frequent explanation for hesitancy is mistrust, misinformation young healthcare workers feeling invincible.
Some simply want to wait as they are fearful of being first in line.
“Vaccine hesitancy in healthcare workers will have implications on vaccine coverage among the population,” Dr Nisar said. “If they are reluctant for the vaccine, we will be having a huge challenge in convincing the general population to take the vaccine.”