Ninety-five-year-old World War II veteran Ramlal Sabharwal is on a special mission — that of motivating others to get vaccinated against Covid-19. The retired army subedar received his first dose of the coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine on March 16.
“I fought in the World War II, the Sino-Indian War, and the India-Pakistan War. I know that even 10% protective shield is enough to increase the survival rate. Here, vaccines are 80% effective,” Sabharwal said.
The Indore resident said that the Covid-19 pandemic is one of the longest battles faced by the world, after the two World Wars.
“When people ask me about the side effects [of the vaccine], I tell them that in a war even a small stone is enough to save from bullets, the vaccination is like a bulletproof jacket,” said Sabharwal, who suffers from a heart ailment.
Sabharwal received his first dose at Apollo Hospital in Indore. He was administered the Covishield vaccine, manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India. “I have seen many tough times — wars, Emergency, communal riots. We always adopted an attacking strategy with weapons to destroy the enemy as we were aware of the power of the enemy. But this time enemy is a small virus and its mutants. We have only one strategy — to fight defensively and the vaccine is the only defensive shield we have,” he said.
When the pandemic struck last year, Sabharwal and his family of six devised a protocol of their own to avoid getting infected.
“I live with my son, daughter-in-law, grandson, granddaughter-in-law and two great-grandsons, one of whom is a “coronial” baby (born during the pandemic). They used to keep a distance of six feet after coming from outside. They are still extra cautious and come to my room only after taking a bath and sanitising everything,” he said.
Sabharwal believes that the government has done a good job in containing the spread of the disease.
{{/usCountry}}Sabharwal believes that the government has done a good job in containing the spread of the disease.
{{/usCountry}}“When the pandemic broke early in 2020, the whole world was ill-prepared for the situation. There were crises of masks and PPE kits, most important things to save themselves from virus, but we fought bravely…”
Now, we have enough masks, PPE kits, and the most important thing, which is vaccines, he said.
His son and daughter-in-law, both aged over 60, have also received the first dose of the vaccine. India opened up its vaccination drive to all people above 45 last week. The previous two phases of the drive – the first was aimed at health care and frontline workers and the second at those above 60 and or above 45 with comorbidities – were dogged by a slow roll-out, teething problems, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation.
So far, nearly 2.1 million people have been vaccinated in Madhya Pradesh, said state immunisation officer Santosh Shukla. Of these, 776,112 frontline and health care workers have received the first dose, while 500,917 have received the second dose.
MP medical education minister Vishwas Sarang said: “We are happy that people are taking interest and coming out for vaccination. But at the same time, many people are not coming out as they believed the lie which is being spread by some antisocial elements.” “After this second wave of Covid 19, we are hoping that people will understand the seriousness and will come out for vaccination,” he said.