COVID-19 Vaccination: Overcoming the fear of the needle

• Follow

For someone who is willing to be lampooned at not being comfortable with internet banking, filling your personal data on the digital ecosystem has its own attendant risks.

Being an abiding student of discipline, a walk-in, however, is a big no! Therefore, it is time to collaborate and converge. The idea is to win together.

Welcome to Co-Win! A government-owned platform that boasts of being the primary vehicle to fix your date with the vaccine.

The platform is smooth! It doesn’t ask you too many personal questions. No uploads required (something that generally intimidates given the push for size and shape). Yes, you need an Aadhar and then you are all set.

Once that is done, you will see a window showing nearby vaccination centres and you choose as per convenience. One mobile number can add up to four individuals. I got my wife and myself registered.

I got a confirmation message from the platform and I was all set to take the jab on April 1.

April 1! The date has a context and it isn’t lost on me. I woke up early morning with due and undue doubts. Obviously, Co-Win hasn’t got all the answers. So, I call up a few friends, to try and address the anxiety.

Is Covshield better than Covaxin? Is a private hospital better than a government hospital? Having already made the choice, I try to steer away from the academic debate even as I seek as many inputs as possible.

Finally, it is time to drive down to Dharamshilla Hospital in Vasundhra Enclave, just a couple of kilometers away from my home. The nervousness is palpable. But I march on and am pleasantly surprised to see the hospital has created another block away from the main hospital for the vaccination.

The process was pretty smooth. The Aadhar card is your password and once you make the payment you can go ahead and you are right at the entrance of one of the many vaccination vends. Within a few minutes, it is time to greet the young nurse. As you try to put up a brave front, she is ready to administer the vaccine. Her smile stays through a few seconds of the needle prick.

The jab is done! A waiting hall greets you as the customary half-hour observation is mandatory. Social distancing means random seating and I exchanged WhatsApp messages with my wife to see if the vaccine has behaved well.

I did feel some pain in the arm. The attendant checks on you to see if everything is normal almost to the clock. Half hour is gone and we are headed home not before a selfie at the well-appointed hospital insignia.

It is time to celebrate. First, it is a victory over the undue negativity, that at one level plagues us all, though in varying measures. To win the battle against the virus, there is a need for another dose and sustained abundant caution.

Indians – by and large – continue to stay shy of the vaccine. India did exceptionally well to defeat Polio but the milestone could have been achieved much earlier had the anti-vaccine mindset not prevailed in the country.

Alas, the negative mindset persists even today. At a time when the virus is making a virulent comeback, India’s best possible response is in mass vaccination.

Shed the hesitancy and move the needle!