Unfortunate part of our political system is that very often facts are relegated to background and either mere fantasies or manufactured apprehensions are employed even to discredit noble measures or undue interference in technical and pure scientific issues is made to derive preconceived results and ”findings”. Medical science is highly sensitive and requires lot of studies, trainings, researches and experiments. India is having the best of scientists and persons of eminence in the world and it is not an easy achievement to find a vaccine, effective, safe and on competitive pricing within shortest period following outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic which while travelling from its source reached quite early in India. Entire world getting engulfed with it and causing all round damage and an unprecedented virtual destruction – of human lives, economies, trade and commerce, affecting mobility and free movement. If we could produce an indigenous vaccine, should it be discredited by spreading rumours simply because it might heap political brownie points on the Government in power or feel proud of the achievement nothing less than a feat by our medical scientists?
Rumours, fake news, gossips, unconfirmed pieces of information and the like can cause tremendous damage, embarrassment and disturbances. When it is spread knowingly in respect of a life saving thing like a vaccine planting unconfirmed but perverted doubts in the prospective recipients or beneficiaries, the entire edifice of planning and preventive measures chalked out by the Government get a set back. Not only that, emotions are riled up and moods are changed. In other words, if the prospective takers of the vaccine had made up their mind to get vaccinated, rumours may behave in such a way that they may give up the idea thus succumbing to lies and unconfirmed news but not without risking their lives which hardly matters to rumour mongers. In this connection, the Central Government has rightly taken cognisance of the curse of rumours being spread about the efficacy of COVID -19 vaccines and asked the states to take effective measures. Since it would not be possible merely by counselling, awareness programmes and similar initiatives alone, but penal action against the persons found spreading rumours must be taken as a future deterrent.
Indian Penal Code, otherwise has Sections 153A and 505 which can be invoked along with the relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act against the rumour mongers. However, when political leaders who are on record having occupied important positions indulge in rumour spreading and discrediting the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine and saying so quite openly and publicly , if no action was taken against them , it would amount to strengthening the rumour mills and emboldening rumour spreaders. Taking action against the offence in symbolic and selective way should never be a norm.
Needless to add but repeatedly reiterated by the concerned circles in the Government, especially associated with the medical profession and the manufactures of the twin indigenous vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin, that they were safe and providing immune system. Spreading misinformation, therefore, would amount to committing an offence which must be not lost sight of , ignored or condoned. The issue being sensitive, it needed serious handling and any type of acts which could undermine the very purpose of vaccine needed to be dealt with firmly. At the cost of repetition, however, there is an authority exclusively to deal with such issues and that is National Regulatory Authority which has found both the vaccines safe and providing immunity against the virus. In India, calling a spade a spade, standards of politics and politicking have been found getting depreciated day by day in its levels of established fair and high levels of ethics and probity and vaccines against the dreaded COVID-19 being treated with rumours , misinformation and spreading of lies is not only unfortunate but spiteful and dangerous as well.
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