BENGALURU: With the Covid vaccination drive kicking off for healthcare workers across Karnataka on Saturday, Ayush practitioners (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) in the state have mixed feelings about it.
An Ayush doctor with the health department in Tumakuru, said he is not ready to take the vaccine, but will be forced to as not taking it may land him in trouble with the higher-ups in the department. “We don’t know what chemicals the vaccine is made of, as this has not been disclosed by the companies or the government. Does it have animal or purely plant extracts? Will it have side-effects due to chemicals used in it? We do not have answers to these questions,” the doctor said.
“Ayurvedic treatment, for instance, is based on documented information in textbooks, on the ingredients to be used for a particular disease. We know their efficacy. But we don’t know how effective this vaccine is,” he added. If more evidence was available on the vaccine’s contents, a more informed decision could be made, he said.
A private Ayush doctor in Bengaluru too said he will not opt for the vaccine. “Ayurveda is based on immunity-building, rather than immunisation of oneself. I will not opt for the vaccine because of inconclusive data from the trials,” he said.
Another Ayush doctor in Chikkaballapura, working at a government health centre, said, “We are as much at risk as allopathic doctors and are worried about a second wave. We have seen the worst of Covid cases up close, where patients suffered neurological symptoms, had their lungs collapse and more.
I would take the vaccine. If something were to happen to us, there is no one to look after our families,” he said. He did have some worries after seeing media reports on the lack of efficacy data in trials and adverse reactions reported abroad, he said.