Maharashtra: ‘Impotence-post-jab’ rumour keeps some away from getting vaccinated

NAGPUR: While the state government recently pushed vaccination in college going youth through a special drive, some, it seems, are still hesitant to get jabbed. Academics told TOI that baseless rumours, amplified through social media and peer level gossip, have led to some youths refusing to take the vaccine.
A senior lecturer at a city college said, “There is a rumour among students that taking the vaccination may make a person impotent. While there’s no truth in this, what happens is that 5% of the students get influenced by all this talk and adopt a wait-and-watch policy.”
TOI tried to find and speak with students who had not taken the vaccine yet, but only one agreed, that too on condition of anonymity. The engineering final semester student said, “The truth is not shown by the media in India but the fact is that there are many people across the world who oppose vaccination. Even in an advanced country like the US, where the education level is high, there are multiple groups that are opposing vaccination. All vaccines have got emergency approval, which means they were rushed and thus we may never know the long-term side effects.”
The student, however, denied that he was specifically concerned about impotency. “I don’t know what the side effect will be. It can be cancer or what you just asked about. Only in three to four years can we get to know the truth. I’m not opposed to the vaccine, I’m just exercising my right not to take it because the medical information is incomplete,” said the student.
As of now, vaccination is not mandatory. It can be a pre-condition to travel, enter classrooms or specified areas and buildings, but there is no outright mandate for every citizen to take the jab.
Dr Nitin Shinde, an infectious disease specialist, said, “Vaccine hesitancy is high in the US and that’s mostly because there’s a high level of freedom for individuals and they in turn want to take the decision and not let the government decide for them. And that’s why US is still witnessing high number of cases because of the vaccine roll out not being proper.”
He said that impotency rumours have always been linked to vaccination roll outs. “For decades, rumour mongers have been associating impotency with every new vaccine or treatment. But there is no medical evidence to suggest that this causes any impotency,” said Dr Shinde.