The second roll-out of the vaccines has begun and many have already taken the jab. 

There are doubts among the people and the choice of vaccine is a major issue.

If there is any choice to make, it is this: get vaccinated. Will you be free of Covid-19 after getting the vaccine? No, but you will not succumb to the disease, the dreadful pandemic.

We have three approved vaccines available today. All are WHO-approved. But there are influences in the play. The fact is, no vaccine is better than the other.

But then we are seeing a sort of marketing on the boards where vaccinations are happening. This must stop, immediately, because further confusion is really unnecessary.

We have a choice—to get any vaccine of our choice. But go get it, that’s more important.

The vaccine politics has heightened; it will only get worse in the coming days and months.   

The whole debate must be understood in this new context—the need to go on and open up in the most sensible manner which is by building herd immunity.

Is that enough? No.

We need to do much more than we have been able to do. At a time when a majority of Bhutanese people are asking whether they should get a jab or which vaccine they must get, a clear-cut advisory is in short supply. This is the real problem.

Giving direction is more important than giving choices.

There is science to tell us that vaccination is important to protect ourselves from this menacing scourge. What is unhealthy is the information that is coming out about the vaccines. 

Logically, if the vaccines work wonderfully fine individually to protect ourselves from the virus that has caused so much disruption in societies, why and how is mixing a danger?

The vaccine politics has been raging and it will in the coming days only get worse, unfortunately. What is important is that we make sure that we get them from the vial to the arm sooner than later. 

Businesses can open and the public can breathe fresh air. Economically that’s good but we can not have it one way. No. 

We can defeat the virus, why not. But go get a jab, no matter what vaccine brands you’re getting. You will be protected and so the society will be.

Moderna? Get it. AstraZeneca? Go get it. Sinopharm, why not? These are vaccines that will help us fight the virus. But this is just a new beginning for us. Much will depend on how we react to the pandemic.

 We are yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel and we cannot play with these urgent choices, not this time.