NOIDA: Pehle aap (after you). There is no better phrase that comes to my mind to sum up the mood at various health centres where recipients were given the vaccine, for which the entire country has waited for months.
For some, it was a moment of pure joy. For most, the first day of the Covid vaccine programme was marked by anxiety. Many recipients TOI spoke to expressed apprehension about possible side effects of the vaccine - the first that a generation has witnessed being developed, tested and rolled out in less than a year. Doctors, however, have sought to drive away misconceptions, saying the vaccine had undergoing rigorous testing and was safe.
"Hum 5 baje lagvayenge, abhi nahi (I will get the vaccine shot at 5pm, not now)," said a health worker whose name was on the list of recipients at the Bisrakh community health centre. He hoped to wait it out and watch out for side effects, if any, in those who had taken the shot earlier in the day.
It was already 2.45pm at the Bisrakh centre and only 30 healthcare workers had been inoculated by then. Officials were making frantic calls to the others, but most chose to give the vaccine the miss on Saturday.
At the Bhangel health centre, 68 people got themselves vaccinated, 32 short of the day's target. "I wanted to see if someone fainted after taking the vaccine. I asked around if they were fine after being injected," sad an ANM from Surajpur area.
Her seniors from the health department had made multiple calls to her and her colleagues to ensure they made it on Saturday. The medical superintendent clarified to them, "The vaccine that is being administered is a foreign vaccine and is safe."
Two makes of the vaccine are being administered in the country. Covishield has been developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and is being manufactured in the country by the Serum Institute of India. On the other hand, Covaxin has been developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and has been approved while still undergoing phase 3 clinical trials. Health officials have vouched for both the vaccines as being equally effective and have said they are unlikely to cause any side effects.
On the outset, most health workers said they were happy to get vaccinated. A staff nurse, who got a shot earlier in the day, looked at her senior doctor before answering a question from TOI. "I am fine. There was anxiety, but then, my family said I must take it," she said with a smile.