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Photos: Health workers take Covid-19 vaccinations to Kashmir nomads
Health workers are trekking long distances through remote Himalayan meadows in Kashmir to vaccinate nomadic herders in a campaign launched in June. Their challenge isn't the treacherous terrain, but persuading people to get inoculated against the coronavirus.
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Nazir Ahmed, a healthcare worker, carries vaccines and looks out from a hillock for shepherds to vaccinate them against Covid-19 in Tosamaidan, southwest of Srinagar on June 21. Fueled by misinformation and mistrust, many residents, particularly in remote rural areas, believe that vaccines cause impotence, serious side effects and could even kill. Some simply say they do not need the shots because they’re immune to the coronavirus.(Dar Yasin / AP)
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A team of health workers cross a stream to reach the villages on the upper reaches during a COVID-19 vaccination drive in Gund, northeast of Srinagar on June 22. The challenge for health workers travelling long distances to vaccinate mostly shepherds and nomadic herders in the remote meadows of the region has not been the terrain but vaccine hesitancy.(Dar Yasin / AP)
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Masrat Farid, a healthcare worker, successfully convinces Kulsuma Banoo to take the Covid-19 vaccine in Gagangeer, northeast of Srinagar on June 22. “Everywhere we go it seems rumours reach earlier than we do, and it makes our job difficult,” Farid told AP during a recent vaccination campaign.(Dar Yasin / AP)
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Najma Begum, a shepherd, reacts as she receives the Covishield vaccine for Covid-19 from Masrat Farid, a healthcare worker, in Gagangeer, northeast of Srinagar on June 22.(Dr Yasin / AP)
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A team of healthcare workers move in vehicles during a vaccination drive in Tosamaidan, southwest of Srinagar on June 21. The rumors are plentiful. Still, Kashmir has done better than the rest of India. Scores of health workers like Farid have fully vaccinated over 9% of the eligible people among the region's 14 million population.(Dar Yasin / AP)
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A woman watches villagers being vaccinated as she stands outside her hut during a Covid-19 vaccination drive in Tosamaidan, southwest of Srinagar on June 21. Almost 53% in Kashmir have had a first shot.(Dar Yasin / AP)
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Dr. Tajamul-Hussain Khan, chief medical officer unsuccessfully tries to convince a nomad woman sitting on horseback who refused to let her 30-year-old son to be vaccinated during a Covid-19 vaccination drive in Tosamaidan, southwest of Srinagar on June 21.(Dar Yasin / AP)
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Healthcare workers administering a dose of the Covishield vaccine to Basheera Banoo, a shepherd, during a Covid-19 vaccination drive in the forest area of Gund, northeast of Srinagar on June 22. Apart from the hesitancy, the health workers have faced hostility as well. “There are places where our colleagues have been attacked,” said Farid, who has vaccinated over 800 people so far.(Dar Yasin / AP)
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