New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS): An overwhelming majority of Indians continue to display hardly any vaccine hesitancy even when it comes to children, as per IANS-CVoter Omicron Snap Poll.

The snap poll had a sample size of 1,942. When asked if they would get children in their families vaccinated 76.6 per cent said definitely yes while 10 per cent were of the opinion that perhaps they will. Effectively, close to 87 per cent of Indians are willing to vaccinate their children to protect them from the pandemic.

Just about 6 per cent displayed hesitancy. This is remarkable given the number of self styled pundits and experts claiming without any scientific evidence that vaccinations for children could be risky.

Given the fierce ways in which parents are protective of children, this level of belief and faith in modern science is truly remarkable. This flies against the stereotypes painted by the media in western countries that low income developing countries like India are more susceptible to superstitions and to charlatans who issue dire warnings against taking the vaccine.

Instead, it is people in the western countries that seem to be displaying stubborn and irrational levels of vaccine hesitancy despite the abundant supply and availability of vaccines in those countries.

In a previous tracker survey conducted in December, 2021, an astonishing 98 per cent of the then eligible population had clearly stated that they were willing and ready to take their vaccine doses. That makes out India as the country with the lowest hesitancy rate in the world.