An eleventh standard student of a city school organised a special vaccination drive for the members of the transgender community on Saturday.
Sia Sehgal, a student of Hill Spring International School, raised around Rs 2 lakh fund through corporate donations, which was used for procuring the vaccine doses from a private hospital. Sia said that she got in touch with the members of the community through social media and held a video conference with them. In the meeting, she explained to the members about the importance of getting vaccinated and encouraged them to come forward and take the dose.
"The members of the community initially were very much apprehensive when it came about administering the vaccine. The vaccine accessibility for every community of our country is of supreme importance in the fight against Covid, which is why I decided to reach out to their community and help them with every possible way," said Sia.
She said that as many as 150 beneficiaries were administered with the first dose of Covid vaccines on Saturday.
"I got in touch with some senior doctors who helped me in getting all the required permissions from the BMC. I understood the importance of getting their community vaccinated and I will work towards arranging a similar drive to administer the second dose of vaccine to them as well," she said.
Out of the total doses that were administered, 100 were sponsored by Sia with the amount of money she raised through donations. While 50 doses were jointly sponsored by welfare associations, Tweet Foundation and InHarmony.
"Our volunteers helped the beneficiaries with the registration process on the spot. Many of the members of the community were not really aware of the vaccination process and were apprehensive to take the dose. This drive has really helped them," said Anupama Easwaran of InHarmony.
Meanwhile, members of the community said that Saturday's drive was carried out smoothly.
"Many members were not very tech-savy as they were not really aware of the steps of getting the doses. Saturday's drive has been helpful as most of the members have to step out every day for their occupational needs," said a member.
