Granny, 107, gets inoculated in remote Assam under PM drive

GUWAHATI: A 107-year-old grandmother from the Sonowal Kachari community in upper Assam's Golaghat district has become a role model for others to emulate as the state health department managed to convince her to get inoculated under the Prime Minister's Har Ghar Dastak programme.
At a time when videos of healthcare workers facing massive resistance from vaccine-hesitant villagers in several parts of the state have gone viral on social media, especially from areas inhabited by tribal communities, centenarian Akoni Sonowal of Lakhimipathar village has become a shining example of compliance.
"We thought she was 80 but was actually 107. Her son is 75," Karishma Bora, community health officer at Charaimari health and wellness centre told TOI on Saturday. Interestingly, Akoni Sonowal was not hesitant about the vaccine. Health officials said it was reluctance of the family members and to some extent, the inability of the healthcare staff to reach out to the far-flung area bordering Nagaland, for which she could not be vaccinated till date.
A mixed population of ethnic tribal communities live in the interior forest area where lack of internet connectivity compelled the health staff to update the achievement on Friday night after they came out of the area late in the evening.
"It's difficult for the grandmother to move out of her home at a ripe old age, though her family members said she can still cook food for her grandchildren," Bora added.
"It was heartening to see how warmly she welcomed the health staff and allowed us to administer the vaccine," said nurse Boby Devi, who administered the vaccine late on Friday. Her health status was monitored but she did not suffer from any side-effects till Saturday evening.
Under Har Ghar Dastak, the health department officials are ascertaining the number of unvaccinated 18 plus citizens by verifying their identity with the voter list.
Even as the county crossed 100 crore vaccination mark in October, in Lakhimipathar polling booth area, from where Akoni Sonowal hails, about 5% of the 1,012 eligible voters remained unvaccinated till the start of the door-to-door vaccination campaign this week. Lakhimipathar village is about 37 km from Golaghat district headquarter, but the remoteness of the Nagaland bordering villages makes it difficult to be accessed by government officials.