Hyderabad: The parents of many teenagers who are now eligible to take Covid-19 vaccination are still hesitant to their children taking doses, afraid of side effects.
This is also a factor behind a low vaccination rate on day 1 drive vaccination for the age group 15-18 on Monday.
“I want to make my daughter vaccinate but I want to wait a month to see if there are side effects reported when my daughter has suffered asthma.
I want to make sure it won’t worsen her condition,” said Macherala Raju.
Similar thinking has been voiced by several other parents who, while they have registered their children on the Cowin Portal, have not ordered slots.
Some parents say they want to observe the efficacy of the vaccine in other children before being managed by itself.
Meanwhile, a group of other parents called for information and awareness to encourage vaccinations to adolescents.
“The vaccine must be given only after educating parents and adolescents.
It should not be forced.
The government, school teachers, and other staff can take the initiative to run a conscious campaign to fill the gap,” said Seema Agarwal, parents.
Some parents also expressed their concern for reports of Bharat Biotech announcements in November to increase the life of the Covaxin dose to 12 months from the previous nine months approved.
“The vaccine expiration date has increased three months.
In such a scenario, I’m not sure whether the vaccine is even safe to be given like yet.
I want to wait more time before I get my son vaccinated,” said the old man.