’VOLUNTEERED TO ALLAY FEARS’

Dr Pragya Shukla, HOD clinical oncology, Delhi State Cancer Institute: Shukla, 43, nodal officer for vaccination at the institute, volunteered to take the first shot on Saturday to assure people that it was totally safe. She said the toughest thing in the past 10 months was maintaining distance from her sixyear-old son. “He was confused initially but then I told him about the situation. He said his mother would defeat the virus and that has kept me strong ,” she said.