In rural pockets of Sonbhadra, motivators, onspot registrations to boost vaccination drive

From onspot registrations to deploying motivators and holding special camps, the Sonbhadra district administration is going all out to cover maximum number of people, especially those in remotes villages and tribals, under the Covid vaccination drive.

The eastern UP district with about 18 lakh population, including 22% tribals, has seen 94,690 people taking the jab (till Sunday).

“Of them, 27,336 have even got the second dose,” says district vaccination officer, Sonbhadra, Dr Ram Kunwar.

Till now the drive covered people only above 45 years of age but from June 1 it will include those between 18 and 44 years.

“Surveillance committees have been constituted. Senior administrative officials and chief medical officer hold a meeting with the committee members and the villages where vaccination has to be done are finalized. The next day, heath teams visit the villages,” said Dr Kunwar.

He further said “Around two dozen teams of health department have been deployed for vaccination. Each team comprises five members-- a vaccinator, a verifier, an Asha worker, a support staff and a motivator.”

He said the motivators try to convince people to get vaccinated and share examples of those who have taken the jab.

The teams equipped with mobile do on-spot registration for those who are not so tech savvy.

“Among the beneficiaries vaccinated at the camps in rural pockets, 60% came after registration at CoWIN portal and 40% were onspot registrations,” he said.

While one of the team members is trained in onspot registration another is trained to handle cold chains. There are 54 vaccination centres in the district but the number may increase or decrease as per availability of vaccines.

On Monday, vaccination was done in 40 remote villages and 697 people took the jab .

Sonbhadra chief medical officer Dr Nem Singh said, “Vaccination is being done across the district with special focus on remote pockets. Around 95,000 people have been vaccinated in the district till date.”

Asharfi Gond, a resident of Babhandiha village in Myorpur area of Sonbhadra said “I got myself vaccinated in the camp organised in my area a few days ago. I visited the camp with my Aadhaar card which was verified by the team and I was given the shot.”

Social activist Jagat Vishwakarma, who is carrying out a drive to encourage locals for vaccination, said the youths who have smart phones with Internet facility help register locals on CoWIN portal.

Banwasi Seva Ashram, a non government organisation working for the cause of tribals, has also been roped in to bust all myths related to vaccination.