New Delhi: Vaccine hesitancy, erratic internet connectivity leading to glitches in CoWIN, hilly terrain, snowfall — these are some of the reasons why 11 states and union territories have been able to vaccinate only less than 30 per cent of their registered healthcare workers against Covid-19.
On 7 February, ThePrint reported that the Centre will be hand-holding these states and UTs to ensure better coverage of their Covid-19 vaccination targets during the ongoing nationwide immunisation programme, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
These 11 states and UTs are Assam, Chandigarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The ministry order directed central nodal officers (CNOs), picked from various ministries, to undertake visits to their assigned states and UTs to review the vaccination activities and prepare action plans, if need be. The CNOs can also discuss issues related to vaccinations with principal and health secretaries of the states and UTs concerned.
ThePrint spoke to officials in seven states and UTs, who are working on the vaccination drives there, to find out the reason behind the slow pace.
The most common reason cited by officials in four of the seven states and UTs, who mostly spoke on the condition of anonymity, is “vaccine hesitancy”, with beneficiaries looking to “wait and watch” before taking the shots.
The other reasons cited were local in nature. For instance, snowfall hindering transportation of the vaccines and logistical issues emerging in hilly areas, besides poor internet connectivity.
Officials in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, meanwhile, said the CNOs will start visiting the states and UTs from this week and begin work towards increasing vaccine coverage.
“CNOs are scheduling their visits and will reach the designated states, UTs within this week. As soon as the CNOs reach, the work will begin,” a senior official said, adding that officials working under the National Health Mission in the states are already making a summary of the hiccups and possible action plans.
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Need new plan to tackle ‘vaccine hesitancy’
A senior official in Chandigarh told ThePrint the state is expecting a visit from an additional secretary from the textiles ministry in the coming days.
“We need to work on an action plan to tackle the issue of vaccine hesitancy. Workers have doubts over the long-term safety of the vaccine. Despite our well-targeted communication plan over the safety of the vaccines, we are unable to meet the targets.”
In Delhi too, a senior official from the Department of Health and Family Welfare, said “hesitancy” is the only issue for lower coverage.
“While the hesitancy has improved as compared to the days when the drive started, it is still preventing us from reaching the target.”
An official in Meghalaya echoed similar concerns.
“We are a very small state with less population. If one person refuses to take the shot, ten others standing behind him will follow the course.”
He said people are also asking for “safety data”. “While we try to convince them, they tell us they want to wait for more data.”
The official named three districts — Ri-Bhoi, South West Khasi Hills and South Garo Hills — where hesitancy has experienced the most.
“We are creating a new action and communication plan, which will be discussed with the central nodal officer,” the official added.
Assam, meanwhile, has engaged doctors, nurses and civil servants to effectively communicate the importance of vaccination to people.
“People were not on the same page on a consolidated communication and awareness campaign over vaccination. Now, the influencers, doctors, nurses and civil servants are being roped in as part of the communication plan to improve awareness, and this might lead to the numbers going up in the next few weeks,” an official said.
Pomi Baruah, Officer on Special Duty, National Health Mission, Assam, told ThePrint it is primarily the general hesitancy of people that led to the lower numbers.
“However, we hope to get the desired results soon given that the hesitancy is now decreasing among people with more awareness,” she said.
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Logistics issues in J&K and Manipur
Officials in Kashmir and Ladakh told ThePrint that hesitancy among people is decreasing, but snowfall and poor internet connection are causing disruptions.
“We have airlifted the vaccines using choppers to Gurez and Tangdhar. Blocks in Bandipora district, Kupwara district are also cut off due to snow,” said an official in Kashmir.
A senior official from Jammu said internet connectivity in the region has been a major issue, but the campaign is slowly picking up.
“There was hesitancy among sections of the target population and the start was slow because of the poor internet connectivity in the region. But now it is picking up with the 4G connection in the region. Jammu, for instance, has completed 50 per cent of the total target by the end of Monday,” the official said.
The official added that the population in certain pockets, where the internet connectivity was poor, were initially not scheduled for vaccination.
“The CoWIN app will not run in areas where the connectivity was low, so the population was scheduled for vaccination only in places where the internet connectivity was fine,” he added.
But the drive is gaining momentum now with the government restoring 4G internet services.
“On Monday, more than 10,000 people were vaccinated and this is expected to pick up further, since the app can now be utilised properly,” the official added.
In Manipur, officials cited logistics issues due to “difficult terrain”.
“We will be deploying a rapid response team here. The terrain is difficult as it is a hilly area. Arranging sessions here is not easy. We need hand-holding to decide a plan for tackling logistics issues,” the official added.
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