The Officer Gurudwara is taking the initiative to better capture the status of vaccinations against COVID-19 in Southeast Melbourne.
Towards this end, the Gurudwara Siri Guru Nanak Darbar (SGND), Officer, Victoria, held an online discussion on 28th August in light of the recently released data on vaccination rates in various Local geographics areas (LGAs) available at the government’s heath department website.
Building on the success of the e-inauguration of carpark, Avtar Singh organised this online event using Zoom and simultaneously streamed it live on facebook. Randeep Singh, a volunteer says, ‘The event was well represented by the Indian and Sikh Communities across Victoria and was attended by over 75 families.’
The keynote speaker was Jason Wood, Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs. Wood stressed the fact that the only way to get out of the current situation across Australia is by vaccinations. He mentioned some key vaccination targets and how Australia is tracking its way to meet these before lockdowns and borders can be re-opened.
After the keynote address, the audience was presented with two videos: Australian COVID-19 Vaccine Roadmap and An Appeal to be Vaccinated prepared by children of Siri Guru Nanak Darbar, Officer.
Also present during the online event was Dr Sukanya Muraledaran, a GP based in Wheeler’s Hill, Victoria. Dr. Muraledaran presented an excellent overview about the vaccination process and the efficiency of the currently available vaccines. She also stressed the importance of getting vaccinated for a safe return to normal life.
Various themes discussed included motivation and hesitancy to vaccinate, fake news, becoming role models. Most participants agreed that there was a dire need to demystify various fake news going around in this digital age where information is being shared without assessing the authenticity of information.
Several interesting comments were shared during this discussion. “The major motivation to get vaccinated is to care for others including your own family members”, posted Sarabjit Giddey.
Subbu posted “Hesitation to vaccinate is due to 7.2 billion people trying to compare apples with oranges and mangoes around the world and getting confused with the science. As Dr Sukanya mentioned, people have lost trust after getting bombarded with so much of unconnected data points in the world.”
Other participants suggested the need for us to become role models to encourage those sitting on the fence. Community leaders such as Mr Sunny Duggal, Ms Nayana Bhandari, Gurinder Kaur, Brijal Parikh and many others expressed their views and appreciated SGND’s initiative to organise this community forum.
Harpreet Singh thanked all who attended the meeting and also provided information about the role Siri Guru Nanak Darbar was playing in the current pandemic such as providing food relief, translating updated information and providing support to make a vaccination appointment including transportation to vaccination centres.
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