Assam: Mudslips & floods pose hurdles to Covid vaccine drive

GUWAHATI: The renewed Covid vaccination call, Har Ghar Dastak 2.0, launched this month, has hit a hurdle as the state is facing the worst-ever landslides this monsoon and reaching people is a challenge and second, vaccine hesitancy among tribal villagers in Dima Hasao district is continuing to frustrate government plans.
Many villages have taken “unanimous decisions” not to allow health staff to enter their area in a bid to vaccinate villagers. The village headman of Vattop Leikeh on behalf of 15 families has written to the health department requesting them not to come to their village.
“At least 10 times health officials went to Vattop Leikeh where 30 eligible people have not yet got their first dose. In such a situation the village headman has written to us that the villagers don’t want to be vaccinated. Landslides have cut off connectivity to the village but we will go there once again to convince them,” said district immunization officer Marina L Changsan. The villagers, mostly from the Christian community, believe that “God will save them from Covid”.
While illiteracy and isolation are to be blamed for the villagers turning away from the vaccination, in Solpidong village, the last village bordering Nagaland, the health officials managed to vaccinate one woman and this can be counted as a success.
Kamaljit Talukdar, Assam director of health services (family welfare), said getting one beneficiary in Dima Hasao is equal to vaccinating hundreds in other districts.
“The married woman, who is in her 30s, allowed us to secretly vaccinate her. The village headman and neighbours do not know that she has been vaccinated,” said ANM Sumhluokim Ringsete.
In villages like Solpidong, Lhungjang and Mongjang, which are about 65 to 72 km away from the nearest cold chain points where the vaccine is stored, Ringsete had to walk for more than 48 hrs to reach the destinations after halting for a night just to vaccinate one or two beneficiaries.