Vaccine Hesitancy Among Tribals Remains an Issue

 - Sakshi Post

The success of India's mass vaccination campaign is laudable. Our country has now fully vaccinated over 53% of the population. The world's largest free vaccination exercise continues to impress the world with organizations like the World Health Organization reveling in the reflected glory by now articulating support to the exercise.

India's public vaccination milestones and achievements are undoubtedly world-beating. Our country's efforts have drawn praise from global personalities like Bill Gates, apart from the chiefs of multilateral agencies like the International Monetary Fund, UN Women, and others.
However, vaccine hesitancy among tribal populations in India remains high at over 9% and authorities must address vaccine hesitancy among certain population groups so we can achieve higher vaccination rates.

Tribals are a sizeable part of the Indian population. According to data from the census, India's tribal population exceeded 105 million in 2011. Madhya Pradesh has the largest tribal population in India at over 15.32 million. Over 21% of the state's population is tribal. Tribals are spread out. Other states with large tribal population are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal. Dispelling vaccine hesitancy among this population group will therefore require a pan-India effort by both the state and central governments.
India must press on with efforts to vaccinate the remainder of its population. This would require a mix of persuasion and motivation of vaccine sceptics in the country. It would also need innovation in improving access to vaccines for people inhabiting inaccessible areas of our vast and varied country.
Some states like Madhya Pradesh have taken the lead, vaccinating over 94% of the eligible population. The state administration has overseen 11 crore inoculations against Covid-19. The state has made relentless efforts to make vaccines available across its vast length and breadth. Concerted efforts have been made to dispel vaccine hesitancy among the tribal population in the state. Teachers, professors, government workers have held door-to-door sensitization campaigns to encourage vaccination. The state’s chief minister has directly monitored vaccination efforts which have involved frequent state-wide vaccination melas and drives.

People from various strata - elected representatives, volunteers, religious leaders have been requested to make appeals to the citizens to get themselves vaccinated. Other states with large tribal populations can learn from and emulate Madhya Pradesh’s Jan Bhagidari model of mass vaccination where citizens shouldered responsibility for ensuring success at vaccination.
Large sections of India's tribal populations live in its forests, deserts, hills, islands, and other hard-to-reach places. Vaccinating them would require spreading knowledge, building awareness, and ensuring vaccine proximity and convenience.

These are all factors that help break vaccine hesitancy and require collective effort by governments, corporates, and civil society organizations. Each of these three stakeholders brings unique strengths to the table. Governments bring scale, corporates bring resources and the ability to plan meticulously towards the achievement of precise objectives. Civil society organizations bring with them the ability to execute campaigns on the ground. They have the trust of people on the ground, coupled with a strong network of connections to make things work.
It is unsurprising therefore that civil society organizations have played an active role in ensuring vaccine hesitancy is addressed in favor of mass vaccination initiatives. I take the example of Smile Foundation here.

The NGO has worked to dispel vaccine hesitancy among people through its pan-India tele counselling initiative. Its trained counsellors counsel naysayers and fence-sitters over the phone, encouraging them to get vaccinated at the earliest. In our state Bihar, we have formed multiple crisis management committees of citizens that go far and wide across the state to reach vulnerable population groups like tribals and educate them about the need to get vaccinated. The aim is to help them reach vaccination centers and get vaccinated. We even take medical practitioners with vaccines to them and ensure on-the-spot inoculation. This requires a lot of cajoling, counselling, and handholding. We dispel irrational fears against vaccination. Apart from technological innovation that drives access to vaccines, what is needed to get larger numbers of people vaccinated at the earliest is strong will power, matched by innovative thinking, and efficient execution.

By Dr. Aatish Parashar, Professor, Dean and Head, Central University of South Bihar
 

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