61% Indians sceptical about Covid vax even if it came in 2021: Survey

New Delhi: About 61 per cent of people have claimed they are sceptical about the Covid-19 vaccine and will not rush to take it in 2021 even if it is available, a survey revealed on Friday.
Scientists from around the world, including India are developing several vaccines that are at different stages of clinical trials. The central government maintains it has started to gear up to take these vaccines to every citizen.
‘LocalCircles’ conducted a survey to know the tentative perception of peoples’ reaction when the Government takes Covid-19 vaccine to them finally. It also sought to know peoples’ current behaviour facing COVID-19 threats, and for how long will they continue to endure the suffering from the pandemic. The survey received over 25,000 responses from over 225 districts of India.
The complexity of the COVID-19 disease has put formidable challenges for scientists to develop a safe and effective vaccine. A host of pharmaceutical companies are heavily engaged in trials for a vaccine but when a vaccine does become available in March-April 2021, it is important that there is a certain level of trust that people have in the vaccine.
To the question that asked respondents, “If the COVID-19 vaccine became available in the early part of next year, would you like to get it so you can go back to your pre-COVID lifestyle?”, 61 per cent of 8,312 respondents said they are sceptical about the COVID-19 vaccine and will not rush to take it in 2021 even if it is available.
Only 12 per cent respondents said would get vaccinated and go back to living pre-COVID lifestyle, while 25 per cent said they will get vaccinated but still will not go back to pre-COVID lifestyle, and 10 per cent said they will not take it at all in 2021.