“I was told that I may feel some pain after vaccination, but I didn’t feel a thing. It’s far less painful than a tetanus shot,” said sanitation worker Ram Babu, 32, who is the first person to be administered the intramuscular vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at 10.45 am in Patna in the northern state of Bihar, on January 16.
Babu, who works as a sanitation worker (safai karamchari) at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna arrived at the hospital with his Aadhar Card as identity proof at 9:00 am on Saturday after receiving a text message the day before informing him he would be the first person to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in Bihar.
He is one of the first among 300 million people in priority groups who are getting vaccinated. These include 10 million health workers, 20 million frontline workers and around 270 million persons above age 50 years and/or with co-morbidities.
The risk of infection is high for Babu and other health and frontline workers who work in hospitals where people with COVID-19 are diagnosed and treated.
“I know several people, including doctors and nurses, who got infected, some were sick enough to need hospitalization. If we have a tool to protect ourselves, we must use it,” he said.
The closest call for Babu was when his wife Soni Devi, 28, developed symptoms of cough and fever late last year, but she tested negative for COVID-19. “We were all very relieved that she was okay and we did not need to be quarantined. I work all day in a personal protection equipment (PPE) kit to keep the COVID-19 wards and the hospital clean and free of infection. My three children are home as all schools are closed. I couldn’t have managed to work long hours if it weren’t for her support. She is also a COVID-19 warrior,” said Babu.
The vaccination process was smooth, and everything went without a hitch on January 16. “I arrived at 9 am, they checked my identity card and documents, informed me about the vaccination process, vaccinated me and then observed me for 30 minutes. I was free to leave by 11.30 am,” he said.
“I am very good at my job, and so are these vaccinators,” Babu said.
There was no vaccine hesitancy among Babu’s friends and family as he had been thoroughly briefed about what to expect. His wife cooked him a celebratory breakfast on vaccination day. “I had a ‘light’ breakfast of carrot halwa, chenna mithai (milk-based dessert) and roti (Indian flatbread bread) before vaccination, I had no fear, I know vaccines help prevent illness,” he said.
Babu also wanted to protect himself against disease to protect his wife and three children – his seven-year-old daughter Supriya, and sons Vasu, who is four years old, and Anurag, who is two.
“Everyone must get vaccinated if we want to end the pandemic and want our loved ones to stay healthy. I know I want them safe, so I took the vaccine and will take it again in 28 days,” said Babu.
