Centre to states: Act in opposition to these spreading rumours about vaccines

The Centre has requested states to take penal motion in opposition to these “spreading rumours” concerning the efficacy of coronavirus vaccines at present being administered in Ind ia.
In a letter to all states and Union territories final week, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla mentioned that states should come out with a mechanism to cope with such misinformation and take penal motion beneath Disaster Management Act and the Indian Penal Code in opposition to these spreading rumours about effectiveness of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines.
“I would like to strongly emphasize that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found both the vaccines safe and immunogenic. However, it has been reported that unfounded and misleading rumours are circulating, in the social and other media, creating doubt about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines. Such kind of rumour mongering, particularity by vested interests, can create unwarranted doubts among people at large, and there is, therefore, a need to check all such kinds of unfounded scare-mongering related to the efficacy and immunogenicity of the vaccines,” Bhalla wrote.
The authorities launched the COVID-19 inoculation drive from January 16.
Stressing that the federal government is taking all vital steps to make sure that the vaccination drive is profitable and “the pandemic is eventually eradicated”, Bhalla’s letter mentioned, “I would urge you (states) to put in place an appropriate mechanism to check the spread of such ill-informed rumours, and direct all the concerned authorities under the State Government to take appropriate necessary measures to counter the spread of all such kind of false information about the COVID-19 vaccines as well as promptly disseminate factual messages. Further, penal action may be taken against the person/s of organization/s, who is/are found to have indulged in such activities, under the relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860.”