While much has been reported on the shortage of vaccines, what is the picture inside vaccination centres? Several smaller private vaccine centres had to shut their doors due to a lack of vaccine availability. They are also struggling with high ‘vaccine hesitancy’ and a ‘blanking out’ of smaller pockets like the transgender community and the differently abled.
Mitali Mukherjee spoke with Dr Aqsa Shaikh to dive deeper into the realities of working within these centres and caring for those afflicted by COVID-19. Dr Shaikh is an associate professor of community medicine, nodal officer for COVID vaccination centre, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research.
Aqsa is one of the investigators in the clinical trial of Sputnik V, an investigator in TransCare Project, and WHO Unity Studies on COVID. Dr Shaikh is also founder-director of the Human Solidarity Foundation.