THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government’s decision to give exemption to around 2,300 teachers and 300 non-teaching staff who refused to take vaccine citing religious reason has triggered a controversy as it is found to be against the essentially unanimous support for Covid vaccine by major religious groups in other parts of the world.
While some among the group stayed away citing medical grounds, health experts said such excuses are mostly untenable and are against the spirit of science.
The government was quick to lend them support and said they should not come to the school for the first two weeks and continue with the online classes for the time being.
The developments in the state came at a time when the religious groups in other states and different parts of the world have asked the followers to take the vaccine.
Major religious traditions, denominations and institutions in the US, Israel, Russia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, etc have lent support to Covid vaccines after they too faced anti-vaccination sentiments on religious grounds.
In Malaysia, the religious head clarified that the use of Covid vaccine is obligatory for groups identified by the government.
Oxford/AstraZeneca (Covishield) vaccine has been declared as Sharia-compliant by medical and religious bodies.
“No religion has opposed vaccination officially. It was inspected and cleared in places where there were doubts on the content of the vaccine,” said Dr U Nandakumar Nair, chairman of Campaign Against Pseudo Science Using Law and Ethics.
Health experts say guideline caused confusion in people
“So we can’t accept when people say their reluctance was on religious grounds. It’s more of a personal belief than something to do with religion,” said Dr U Nandakumar Nair, chairman of Campaign Against Pseudo Science Using Law and Ethics.
The state guideline was to ensure vaccination for all people around students which included parents, teachers, nonteaching staff and bus drivers.
It was done to ensure protection for the children as part of their right to health.
“Children have a right to health which they realise only through the agency of adults around them. People who find excuses in not vaccinating are not adequately respecting the rights of the children,” said Dr Nandakumar.
It has found that the general caution in the vaccination guideline for people with allergies have made people skip vaccination.
However, health experts are of the view that the guideline caused confusion in people.
“There is no need to skip vaccines even if one has food or drug allergies. Moreover, the problems due to allergy should be decided by a doctor when one goes to the vaccination centre. Vaccines give protection to people with all kinds of diseases rather than increasing the danger,” said Dr Purushothaman Kuzhikkathukandiyil, professor of pediatrics at MES Medical College.
“We should not support teachers who skipped vaccination for their convenience. The hesitancy shows their attitude. The government should give them one more chance to get a vaccine at the earliest,” he added.