By Lalji Jayswal
The second wave of Corona virus has ending in India. Researchers have revealed in different studies that the second wave of corona virus has proved to be more dangerous than the first, and third will be more dangerous in compression other wave. But the increase in vaccination work in the country will definitely get relief. The government hopes that in this phase of vaccination, 30 crore people will be vaccinated by August. In the first phase, more than one crore health workers and first line workers have been vaccinated. It is noteworthy that a target has been set to vaccinate 1.3 billion people within two years. This means that if there is a two-dose vaccine, the management of 2.6 billion vaccines means that more than 3 million vaccines will be applied daily. If people who have acquired immunity from the corona virus are excluded from the vaccine, then the potential figure may be slightly lower. But the biggest question here is, will it be easy to fulfill this goal of two years? Certainly, this two-year marathon is difficult, and the reason for this difficulty is to make vaccination successful in rural and backward areas. It is well known that the lesser the difference in vaccination in rural and urban districts, the more help the states will have to deal with the increasing daily cases. That is, the emphasis should be on vaccination in rural areas as much as in urban areas. In fact only then the rural areas will be protected from the grip of the Corona virus.
Last year, the NITI Aayog released a list of the 101 most backward districts, presenting the picture of the country’s backwardness. There is no one reason for the backwardness of these districts, there are many reasons. As they are located in remote areas, road and railway connectivity is poor. These backward districts either often face drought or have to face floods. The population of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minorities is also high. In such a situation, the challenge increases more in rural and tribal areas. The primary health centers of such areas either have no employees or are few in number. In some places such centers do not exist. In such a situation, it is necessary to do more than necessary to get the vaccination done in a smooth manner.
According to the World Health Organization, 60 percent of India’s 2 million health care workers are present in urban areas only. Tell that at present, there are 6,28,221 villages in India and 60 percent of the country’s population lives in rural areas. This means that the governments will not only have to activate the existing health network, but in a short time, by training millions of new people, its scope will have to increase more and more. About 24 lakh Anganwadi workers engaged in rural health care can be helpful in this. But it is important to note that they will also need to be trained. By the way, his experience is mainly to run vaccination programs for newborns. The question is, will the Anganwadi workers be enough for this work?
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Health has hoped to get 40-50 crore vaccine doses for about 25 crore people by July 2021. We can also run a crash course for training of temporary health workers or anganwadi workers in order to fulfill this goal properly. So that trained health workers can be prepared quickly. But vaccine wastage is also becoming a cause for concern in the recent past. The Health Ministry had issued a directive to the states for storage of vaccines that it would be necessary to keep the vaccines between 2-8 degree Celsius temperature. Lack of proper compliance is also causing vaccine waste.
Significantly, the Central Government had said on the previous day that the wastage of vaccine in five states is more than the national average of 6.5 percent. The five states in which the wastage of vaccine doses in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir is more than the national average of 6.5 percent. These states will have to think at their level that the vaccines of Kovid-19 are invaluable, it is for the betterment of the health of the people. So, how can it be used in an economical way by preventing its waste? According to the assessment, 17.6 percent vaccines have been destroyed in Telangana state and 11.6 percent in Andhra Pradesh. The main reason for vaccine waste has been arbitrariness, lack of training and apathy. Therefore, the states will have to train health workers and create an effective cold house network in a short time. Apart from this, refrigerated delivery vans will also have to be arranged to deliver the vaccine in remote areas, otherwise the vaccine will continue in the same way and vaccination in rural areas can be very difficult if the same sequence continues.
As a result, the private sector will also have to come forward in the rural vaccination campaign. But before that, the government will have to make it necessary to take responsibility of vaccines of its employees and also to incorporate the covitization program in corporate social responsibility. Significantly, if the private sector medical infrastructure is used, India can vaccinate 50 crore people in less than 6 weeks, in which case the increasing concerns of the central and state governments related to vaccination will be reduced to some extent. But vaccination in rural and tribal areas is not so easy. The biggest thing is the challenge of vaccination in Naxalite areas. In the midst of the threat of Corona, Naxalites can carry out such incidents like robbery of vaccine. It will be the responsibility of the security agencies to carry the vaccine safely to the center. There are many Naxalite affected areas in Bastar, where there have been reports of Naxalites coming under the grip of Corona from time to time. During the lockdown, a female Naxalite commander was found in the forest in Modakpal area of Bijapur district, which was found to be Corona positive. It was learned that Naxalites have not survived from Corona. Therefore, the police administration fears that the Naxalites may rob the Corona vaccine. At all these levels, some such efforts will be required to meet the challenges. In which first level, to create awareness and confidence in the vaccine among the people there. Recently, religious, community and tribal heads of Chhattisgarh gave their support for the corona vaccination rollout in the state. Similarly, in other states also, this initiative should be taken by tribal heads, so that trust and appropriate information can be promoted in tribal and backward people. Second level, to get them out of the problem that if they do not have smart phones etc. how and where will they register themselves? If the ordinary citizens have to register themselves online for vaccine, then problems will certainly arise at the rural level outside the cities and if online registration work is entrusted to ASHA workers and ANM, then problems will also arise because they already have healthcare There is a lot of burden.
The survey has revealed that only 37 percent of the villagers have smart phones. In such a big question, if online registration is mandatory, how will the villagers be able to register for the vaccine? In such a situation, it will be necessary that online registration centers should be set up in rural areas. There are already rural service centers in India which is a very large and wide network. If the Indian government takes their cooperation, then it will be better for the villagers along with the government. It can also be appropriate that when the rural people go to a government or private hospital, there is quick registration and vaccination. If such facility is available, and rural people are aware of it, then the campaign of vaccination in rural areas will become very easy. Here the role of village head also emerges. The head of each village should take the responsibility that people should stay away from maximum rumors and make the vaccination successful by getting proper information. For this, the village head should prepare a list of the people of his village at his level and should motivate them for vaccination and declare their village corona free. If the village head takes up such a responsibility, then there can be a lot of convenience in the work of the government. At the same time, rural people also get out of vaccine hegemony in vaccination. Public participation should be encouraged, not due to rumors, to show indifference towards vaccination. This corona vaccination is similar to the vaccination, as many vaccinations are taking place in India so don’t panic.
(Author is journalist, writer, columnist, blogger, physical yoga instructor and National record holder (“India book of records”2021) . The views expressed are personal opinion of the author. He can be reached at laljijayswal99@gmail.com)
