Hyderabad, The Telangana government is contemplating a counselling programme for the healthcare workers who had registered themselves for the Covid vaccine but later pulled out of getting the jabs due to alleged fears, said state Health Minister Eatala Rajender on Sunday.

Delivering a virtual address on Covid vaccine organised by Telangana State Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Trade (TSFCCT), Rajendar said some people are afraid to take vaccine jabs due to fear spread by unreliable and unscientific news and rumours being circulated.

Telangana has vaccinated 1,68,589 healthcare workers till now.

According to health officials, 57 per cent of the targetted beneficiaries have taken the vaccine.

The Telangana Health Minister called upon the medical fraternity to dispel the fears.

"It is the medical fraternity who can clear the air. They must use social media and mass media to spread awareness about the efficacy of the vaccine," he added.

The Minister said people need more confidence and courage.

"To dispel these alleged fears, I volunteered to take the vaccine to give confidence. Today 25 to 30 per cent health workers still have not taken the vaccine," he added.

Rajendar said corona vaccine is mRNA-based and no one knows exactly how it behaves. It behaves differently in different countries and environments. Like all vaccines, Covid-19 mRNA vaccines have been rigorously tested for safety before being authorized for use.

"mRNA technology is new, but not unknown. The medical profession have been studying it well. As far as what I gathered from the experts is that mRNA from the vaccine never enters the nucleus of the cell and does not affect or interact with a person's DNA. It may not be a 100 per cent effective vaccine. But it serves the purpose and gives confidence. If anybody has any doubts, they can consult their doctors and experts before taking the vaccine as they are the best people to give that confidence to the people."

Rajender said the state government is committed to making the vaccine available to everybody.

"But it is the Union government which is in full control of the matter. We requested recently to the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to allow us to get more doses as the vaccine is developed in Hyderabad so that it can be given to more people. We are looking for permission from the Union Health Ministry," said the Minister.

He revealed that the state has received eight lakh doses of the Covid vaccine. The state Health Minister said the vaccine is not costly as it does not cost more than Rs 200.

Telangana has fared well on all fronts in tackling the Covid-19. "From the perception of death on contracting Covid, we have reached the stage where nothing will happen. But this journey has been hard and tough and it was possible due to everyone's efforts"

TSFCCT is a professional body of 11 lakh traders in Telangana. It was the trader community which was badly hit due to the pandemic. TSFCCT has been organising a series of programmes with experts, ministers on subjects of vital importance to the society at large.

TSFCCT office-bearers Ammanabolu Prakash, C. Nand Kumar, Manepalli Murali Krishna, Venu Vinod, T.R Venkatesh, V. Varakumar Gupta, Meela Jayadev, K. Prakash Murthy, G. Narender Kumar, A. Nitin Parikh, Soma Dayanand, among others participated in the event.