Bihar councillor beats vaccine hesitancy with a lucky draw in Katihar

Bihar has so far administered 15.825 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine among its 72.2 million eligible population.

In a first of its kind initiative in Bihar to overcome vaccine hesitancy, a ward councillor in Katihar district gave out gifts in a lucky draw and made a record by getting 800 persons to come forward for vaccination at one centre in a single day. An impressed administration said it may repeat the formula at other centres to step-up the drive.

Katihar district officials said they special vaccination drive received overwhelming response from the residents on June 26. (HT Photo/Representative use)

Manzoor Khan, councillor of ward number 45 in Katihar, gave away a 24-inch LED colour TV, a bicycle, pedestal fan, wall clocks and tiffin boxes as gifts for the winners of the lucky draw among the 782 persons who took a jab of the vaccine at a special camp held at the Bhatta Tola vaccination centre in his constituency on June 26, creating a record for vaccinations done in a day at a single centre in the district.

“We had never achieved around 800 vaccinations in a single day at any vaccination session site since the commencement of the Covid-19 inoculation drive on January 16. We would be happy to vaccinate around 200-350 people at a vaccination centre. However, we achieved a new milestone for our district on June 26,” said Udayan Mishra, district magistrate of Katihar, who handed out the gifts to lucky beneficiaries.

“We are now planning similar initiatives, involving public representatives, and doling out gifts among beneficiaries on a weekly basis,” Mishra added.

The hero of the campaign, Manzoor Khan, whose idea made the drive a huge success, admitted there was vaccine hesitancy in Muslim dominated areas.

“I took my idea of organising a lucky draw at the vaccination centre to the district magistrate, who supported me. I then got in touch with M/s Neha, a potato cold storage firm, which agreed to sponsor the gifts. We had to pitch pandals, draw up tarpaulin because of rains and decorate the vaccination centre with balloons, etc. to give it a festive look, for which, I also contributed some money. The entire show was organised at a cost of ₹52,000,” Khan said.

District immunisation officer Dr DN Jha was appreciative of Khan’s initiative.

“Had it not rained, we may have achieved 1000-plus vaccinations, but we had to stop at 782 vaccinations that day,” he said.

Khan said it was possible to achieve the target of vaccinating the country’s population if public representatives took interest in the drive.

One of the laggards on the front of vaccination, Katihar initially managed to vaccinate only around 2,500 persons out of the 2.2 million eligible population before the onset of the second wave of the pandemic, which caused several thousand deaths. The drive has, however, picked pace in the last month.

“We have vaccinated 310,000 beneficiaries with the first dose, which makes up 15% of the eligible population. We have been able to almost saturate ward number 45, where the special vaccination drive was organised,” said Dr DN Pandey, civil surgeon of Katihar.

The district is also using 20 Teeka Express or mobile vaccination vans to take the drive to rural areas and inoculate people in urban areas at their doorsteps.

“We have vaccinated 13,211 beneficiaries so far at an average of 287 vaccinations per day, per van since June 4, when two mobile vans started to ply in urban areas of the district.” said Rahul Kumar Sonkar, district technical officer, outreach and nutrition, Care India, which is the development partner to the state health department.

Bihar has so far administered 15.825 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine among its 72.2 million eligible population. Of this, 13.625m have been given the first dose and 2.199m the second dose. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has set a target to vaccinate 60 million people in six months, beginning July.