The Awaken India Movement (AIM), a group that spreads an anti-vaccination message, is nothing more than a bunch of misinformed conspiracy theorists, a new group, dubbed the Awaken Meghalaya Alliance (AMA), said today.
The AMA, in its email, claimed to be made up of “doctors, activists, professionals and concerned individuals”.
The AIM’s Meghalaya branch has repeatedly opposed measures to boost the uptake in Covid-19 vaccines and the use of lockdowns and mandatory facemasks in combating the disease.
The AMA said that the anti-vaccination group has a “false agenda” and spreads misinformation.
Recently, Awaken India had criticised NEIGRIHMS for ordering its staff to either get vaccinated or submit themselves to regular Covid tests. The AMA defended the move, however, saying that with more than 5 million Covid deaths it was of the “utmost importance”.
“The (AIM) movement is nothing but a group of conspiracy theorists who in this age of social media are getting far more attention than they deserve and hence must be dealt with firmly by the state,” the AMA release said, adding that the organisation in its sights has misconstrued court rulings to suit its own agenda.
“A hospital mandating tests and vaccination for its staff and doctors is well within the realms of reasonableness and is an act of abundant caution,” AMA said, adding that the hospital is acting in furtherance of Section 4 of the Meghalaya Epidemic Diseases Covid-19 Regulations 2020.
On the AIM’s opposition to vaccines, the doctors’ group said that the jabs can mean the difference between life and death and are an easy, low-cost option to prevent exposing patients, staff and doctors to harm and death. More than 1,500 doctors in India have died while battling Covid, it added, while attacking fears spread by the AIM and likeminded group that the Covid vaccine has not been tested sufficiently enough and has serious side effects.
The AMA described this as “an outrageous lie” as scientific studies have found that the risk of developing a blood clot is greater through a coronavirus infection than from a Covid jab. Risk of death and serious outcomes from Covid-19 far outweigh the small risk of side effects associated with vaccines.
“As some of our own family and friends are frontline warriors themselves, and having encountered the suffering brought by the virus first hand, we ask this Awaken India Movement to stop using fear and intimidation tactics to misguide poor villagers or to bully diligent employees. We also implore the state government to take firm and decisive action to curb the spread of misinformation leading to vaccine hesitancy amongst the people of the state,” the AMA concluded.
