The leader simply hinted that there may be more restrictions to these first dose vaxxers though there are, of course, certain services that are available to fully vaccinated people only, such as trains
Ajit Pawar. File pic
Deputy Maharashtra Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has stated that crores of people could face restrictions in addition to existing ones for not taking the second dose of the COVID vaccine. The NCP leader said that 1.75 crore citizens have missed the time interval between both doses of vaccines and failed to turn up at more than adequately stocked centres, a report said in this paper.
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The leader simply hinted that there may be more restrictions to these first dose vaxxers though there are, of course, certain services that are available to fully vaccinated people only, such as trains.
There has to be a quick and concerted effort by these people to get to centres and finish off their second dose. This edit space had highlighted earlier how taking only the first dose in akin to leaving a talk half-finished.
If there are some solid reasons why these people are not taking the second dose, it is important they speak up, the authorities identify them and work to address these issues, if any.
In any case, if there is any complacency or laziness among people then that is simply inexcusable. We welcome the government actually speaking on the issue and looking at ways, including restrictions, to push people to close the first and second dose.
A number of awareness campaigns, pleas, initiatives have gone unheeded, and when that happens, it may be time to escalate this so that we do see movement and adherence.
If this is the case, where people are unwilling, other than those people with genuine reasons, to take the second vaccine, one can only wonder about the response to the booster dose. Govt intervention will now be the ‘booster’ that is needed to push people towards vaccine centres to take the second jab. The govt needs to talk tough and follow that up with carefully thought-out actions.