NELLORE: As the life of the Covid vaccine is only for three months, the administration is in a fix over completing the first round of vaccination as per schedule since nearly 40 per cent of healthcare workers are avoiding inoculation under one pretext or other because of rumours over its efficacy and possible side-effects.
As many as 38,500 doses of the vaccine were received by the authorities in Nellore to provide jabs to nearly 32,000 health workers within 15 days.
As part of the objective, session sites were increased from 26 to 46 to offer the vaccine to 100 persons in each site. However, they could cover around 16,000 staff out of the targeted 35,000 over 12 days. While the sites are equipped to offer vaccines for 4,600 persons per day, less than 1,000 are turning up with the others skipping the schedule under various grounds.
According to officials, a majority of those evading the vaccine are women, including staff in the medical and health wing, Anganwadi, and…