Publication:

Overview of health risk communication strategies in the context of COVID-19 vaccination in India

Vaccines are being considered as the most promising approach to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) authorized restricted emergency use of two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin on 3rd January 2021. The vaccination drive in India was launched on 16th January 2021. Conducting vaccination at this scale in a country like India is a daunting task because of inherent demographical challenges comprising different ages, incomes, and linguistic profiles of people. An effective health risk communication (HRC) strategy is highly important to reach out to the masses and make them realize the importance of vaccination. It is a crucial pillar for developing national core capacity during emerging infectious diseases. Studying the five months post vaccine rollout in India and assessing the communication strategies based on the principles of HRC is going to provide us good insights into how India has fared in this context. Efforts for COVID-19 vaccination have reached a crucial juncture with the roll-out of vaccination for the largest age group of 18-44 years since 1st May 2021. Transparent, clean and precise answers about facts are either known or unknown, need to be maintained. Vaccine-related myths and higher reporting of deaths due to unknown causes must be stopped. The media must proof check all vaccine-related news with relevant and confirmed scientific materials only and present it with the necessary disclosures. This review focussed on an overview of health risk communication strategies in the context of COVID-19 vaccination in India.