Social Determinants of Awareness about Covid Vaccine in an Urban Setting | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

As has already been widely noted, the COVID-19 pandemic, a global health concern of proportion rarely encountered by the humanity in the recent past had created a havoc, mayhem and panic worldwide. The pandemic was triggered by the infectious spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The corona virus was first traced in an outbreak at Wuhan, a Chinese city in December 2019. Owing to several secretive and reticent initiatives and practices by the governmental and scientific communities efforts to contain its spread proved futile, as a consequence of which the virus to spread to other parts of Asia and later to the other continents of the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020. The symptoms of COVID-19 most commonly include fever cough, congestion and fatigue. Most often, the transmission takes place through airborne particles released through cough and sneeze. In later phase, several mutations of the virus with varying degrees of infectivity and virility were observed among the infected people rendering it difficult to diagnose and treat. As of now, there are no specific antiviral therapies to treat COVID-19, and vaccination is considered as the only possible and cost effective measure or intervention to counter the COVID-19 infections and its spread. is considered to be one of the most cost-effective health interventions for the prevention and control of the pandemic (1,2,3). It has indeed been noted and is a proved fact that so far as public health is concerned, vaccination has been the most effective means or measure of controlling and mitigating the spread of communicable diseases (4).