Going viral on vaccines

A sustained publicity campaign is urgently needed

Widespread vaccine hesitancy and the absence of Covid-appropriate behaviour, especially in rural and moffusil India, are becoming critical problems in controlling the wildfire spread of the second wave of the pandemic. In these districts, local health workers are reporting flat refusals by citizens to be vaccinated on fears that the vaccine would cause serious side effects. This is partly the result of the distrust created by the government’s initial lack of transparency on the vaccines. On the other hand, sheer ignorance about the criticality of masking and social distancing is making rural India a superspreader by default. Given that these