E-Paper
Bollywood movies used to lure Thane rural residents to get their vaccination
Social worker, Baban Harne, from Shahpur made use of popular Bollywood movies and shared the photos of the celebrities getting vaccinated to encourage and motivate the Thane rural villagers to get their vaccination
When nothing else worked, good old Bollywood came to the rescue of the district authorities and social workers who were struggling to deal with the vaccine hesitancy by those in the rural belt of Thane district.
Social worker, Baban Harne, from Shahpur made use of popular movies and shared the photos of these celebrities getting vaccinated to encourage and motivate the villagers to get jabbed. Like Baban, many Anganwadi teachers, Asha workers and other social workers have worked hard to remove the sceptical mindset and with the help of freebies and other perks, motivated many to come forward and get vaccinated in rural areas.
Since mid-July, when the response from villagers were low and so were the number of vaccine doses available across the district, the vaccination drive has increased to more than 96%. Not only has the availability and the number of centres increased but also the awareness related to getting inoculated. Such is the response that Thane District’s health department has requested the Collector to make provisions for a mobile vaccination facility in rural areas.
“Not every village or tribal settlement has a health centre in its vicinity. In many places, we have converted schools and gram panchayat offices into vaccination centres for the convenience of physically-challenged, bed-ridden and aged individuals. Hence, there is a need for a mobile vaccination centre that will help provide better facilities to villagers. We have requested permission from the District Collector for the same,” said Dr Manish Renge, District Health Officer, Thane.
Those residing in the rural areas and especially in tribal hamlets within Bhiwandi, Shahpur and Murbad areas had a lot of misconceptions about the vaccine. This led to a low turnout initially in these areas. Many used to hide within their homes or in the fields to avoid interacting with Zilla Parishad officials. Some also feared that they would be forced to get vaccinated.
“Villages in areas like Talwada, Rodvahal, Jambhulpada, Chillarvadi, Junavali are complete Adivasi Padas, wherein resistance to get vaccinated was quite evident. Many feared that the vaccination would impact their fertility. We started providing stationery to kids in these villages and used this as an opportunity to show movies of well-known Bollywood actors. Later, we showed them pictures of the same actors getting jabbed,” said Harne.
“Children would go home and tell their family members, especially mothers. In many instances, the mothers also watched movies with us and get inspired to get vaccinated. Along with the womenfolk, their husbands and senior citizens also stepped forward to get inoculated. Thus, almost 60% of the population in these tribal villages changed their mind and have now taken the first dose,” added Harne.
In mid-July, rural areas of Thane district had vaccinated hardly 25% with at least the first dose. “Currently there is a continuous supply of vaccine doses. This has also helped us to conduct around 90 sessions also in a day within the rural areas. If we have enough manpower, we can definitely conduct more sessions,” added Renge.
Thane district’s rural areas comprise Ambernath, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Murbad and Shahpur. Till now, seven lakh people have been vaccinated with at least the first dose in rural pockets from among the 14.89 lakh population. Out of these, 5.57 lakh (75%) have received the first dose and 1.84 lakh (24%) are fully vaccinated in the rural areas till now.
Instances of vaccinators not providing proper guidance to the beneficiaries regarding the side effects causing the villagers to panic have also occurred. “We have strictly asked vaccinators to guide and provide basic medication to the beneficiaries getting vaccinated. Moreover, they are kept under observation for a while after getting jabbed. Our team of Asha workers also visit the vaccinated senior citizens and inquire about their health condition,” said a senior officer from District Health Department, Thane.
Many are daily wage workers, not savvy with online booking and it becomes difficult for them to travel long distances to the health centre just to get jabbed. “There have been instances when these villagers have visited the centre but were turned away due to lack of doses initially. To encourage them, we have been adapting various methods like providing books and raincoats for children, groceries for women and initiating conversations with other family members while distributing these items. We also tried our best to gain their trust. While doing so, we also educated them about Covid and the importance of getting vaccinated,” said Kundan Patil, a Bhiwandi resident and a health committee member of the Zilla Parishad.