4G or not: Kashmir on Google Trends for Russian COVID-19 vaccine

Srinagar:  Curious Kashmiris are flooding Google with queries about the new COVID vaccine developed by Russia.

Though the World Health Organization (WHO) is yet to approve the vaccine, at least 20 countries including India have shown interest in the medicine.

Kashmir too is showing a lot of interest in the vaccine. The Internet has been flooded with queries from Kashmir about the availability of the vaccine, its rates, and efficacy.

On August 11, searches about the vaccine on Google in Kashmir reached a 100 mark, the highest on the scale.

All the developments related to the vaccine were followed on August 12 when the graph showed that the searches by the internet users have remained between 60 and 100. Till the afternoon of August 14, searches related to the vaccine on Google touched an 80 mark.

Google Trends is made on the basis of a graph that shows a relative frequency of any search term overtime on a scale of zero to 100. Hundred represents the highest level.

The keywords that internet users have mostly written on Google search include “COVID-19 vaccine in Russia, vaccine production and availability in the world markets”.

Most of the queries regarding the vaccine have been reported from Pulwama, where the graph has reached its maximum.

It is followed by Srinagar where people have shown keen interest in the vaccine. The frequency of searches on the graph reached 94.

In Anantnag and Budgam, frequency on Google searches has touched 86 and 82 respectively.  

Covid-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir have crossed 26,000 with over 500 deaths reported since March.

Prior to the announcement of the vaccine by Russians, the most common searches on Google have been about the traditional ways to prevent or fight coronavirus.

Doctors Association of Kashmir has been skeptical about the Russian Covid-19 vaccine for its license before completing clinical trials.

Doctors Association of Kashmir has been skeptical about the Russian Covid-19 vaccine for its license before completing clinical trials.

“We are skeptical about the claim as the vaccine has been granted a license for civilian use even before the clinical trials are completed.  Mass vaccination with an incompletely tested vaccine is unethical,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr. Nisar ul Hassan.

He said Russia has conducted just two trials of the vaccine with the third clinical trial yet to start.

“The normal approval process of a new vaccine is to gather data from phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials and then expand the pool of study participants in phase 3 to create enough evidence that the vaccine is effective and safe,” he said.