BENGALURU: “I feared I might faint because I am so lean,” said Mangala Alekya, perhaps the youngest to be vaccinated on Monday. Alekya, who turned 19 a week ago, weighs a shade over 30kg.
“I was extremely scared of getting the vaccine. I believed I might develop side effects and die,” said Alekya. “But it was a slight prick and although my arm still hurts, it’s bearable.” Alekya said she changed her mind about taking the vaccine when G Pushpalatha, medical officer, Banagarappa Nagara PHC, where Alekya works, got the first dose.
“I come from a small village in Ananthapuram and my parents told me someone who got the vaccine there fainted. They did not want me to take the vaccine,” she said. “But I’m a pharmacist and I thought I would be doing injustice to my job if I don’t trust the invention of my healthcare colleagues. So I took the vaccine, but with a lot of fear.”
She and Pushpalatha were the only people at the PHC not to get
Covid. “There were days when I collected swab samples, but luckily I didn’t get Covid.”