COVID Vaccination Challenges in Villages

 

Since the arrival of the second wave in the country, the number of COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh has shot up. While the metropolitan and urban areas of the state have walked a rather easy path towards vaccinating their dwellers, a major battle is being fought on the rural grounds. This situation, more than that of inoculating, is about the apprehensions of the uneducated villagers towards the vaccines. Such fears are reflected in the number of vaccinated individuals in these rural areas, where only 12-15% of the population has received a dose of the vaccine while accounting for more than 60% of the total cases in India.    

Similar is the condition in rural Azamgarh. In the villages of Miyapur, Budhapur Kutub Ali, and Bhadsar, false narratives about the vaccines have gathered enough momentum to deter people from visiting vaccination centers. WhatsApp and social media forwards about vaccines causing side-effects like impotency, erectile dysfunction, and, in many cases, even death has brought about a sense of hesitancy among the villagers. These hindrances have acted as an obstacle to medical authorities as well as NGOs who are willing to set up camps and work towards a smooth vaccination drive.

However, this is just one aspect of the overall issue that has delayed the vaccination process in rural areas. The existence of a prominent financial and digital divide has further aggravated this problem. The vaccination guidelines mandate individuals younger than 45 years of age to register themselves on an online government platform, CoWIN. While this seems like a reasonable method of collecting relevant data and ensuring documentation, it becomes another hurdle to those with limited digital literacy and no internet access. This has limited the inoculation drive to the tech-savvy middle class residing mostly in the urban areas.

While efforts have been made to control this distressful situation, results have not been very fruitful. In a recent vaccination drive in Azamgarh by the Mijwan Welfare Society, only a single individual showed up to the vaccination center out of a potential thousand. Similarly, the middle-aged groups refuse to register themselves, even though healthcare authorities and NGOs are willingly helping them with the same. The organized camps with internet and technical facilities are seeing minimum traffic as well. Imparting with truthful results of the vaccines and providing an honest insight about its side effects, therefore, has become just as necessary are the process of vaccination itself. Without the participation of the majority rural population of the country in the inoculation drive, the whole country might face another wave. Currently, the rural areas account for a higher percentage of cases than their urban counterparts. Considering that these areas lack proper healthcare and policing infrastructure to help the battling patients and maintain a safe environment to counter the spread of the virus, the inability of vaccinating these individuals would result in another increase of cases.

Unless the population is ensured about the safety of the vaccines, persuading them into getting a shot of the vaccine would be tough. To counter this hesitancy, only education and information campaigns targeting villages might bear fruit. Going door to door to educate the masses, who flee at the sight of a hazmat suit, has the potential of changing their mind. Reminding them of vaccinations against diseases like Polio and how those did not cause any adverse effects, setting up their expectations, and providing them with details of how to cure post vaccinations illness, all may dispel the fears. Reciting tales of villages like Janefal in Maharashtra and how it managed to achieve 100% vaccination by discarding their similar fears may help all the other districts like Azamgarh achieve their goal.