How health workers are combating Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in rural Maharashtra

Villagers in Maharashtra’s Trimbakeshwar, about 50-km from Nashik city, would promptly approach Anusaya Dolas, a health worker, if they ever fell ill. An accredited social health activist, she had, over the years, painstakingly earned the trust of villagers, she told IndiaSpend over the phone in April. But nowadays, the same people run away as soon as they see her coming.

“They run out from back doors of homes or tell their children to make excuses and say that nobody is at home,” Dolas said, ruefully. This mistrust is a result of the Covid-19 vaccination drive, as villagers feel the vaccine has side effects and can even result in death, Dolas explained.

With the majority of India’s 13 crore population is still living in villages with little health infrastructure, the country is currently seeing the worst of the pandemic as the virus has reached rural India.

In Maharashtra, by May 12, the five districts with the lowest vaccination coverage among the eligible population over 45 years were Hingoli (14%), Palghar (17%), Gadchiroli (17%), Nandurbar (17%) and Solapur (18%), data from Maharashtra’s public health department show. Over 75% of the population in four of these districts, other than Solapur, lives in rural areas.

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