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In
the northern region of Lidderwat, more than 100 km (60 miles)
from the capital of India-administered Kashmir, medical teams
have had to trek more than six hours on foot and ponies to reach
nomadic and shepherd tribes in the mountains.
On a recent morning, Reuters tagged along with a team of over a
dozen health workers carrying medical kits and equipment
including oxygen cylinders atop ponies and on foot to Lidderwat.
In a meadow surrounded by mountain peaks, the workers set up the
vaccination site, donning blue protective suits as people
gathered.
Part of the challenge was also to convince people.
“They (nomadic tribes) are not entirely educated or aware about
vaccination,” the locally-based medical official Nasir Khan told
Reuters.
“We had to talk to them, motivate them to convince and mobilize
them,” he said. “It's a faith building process...there was
hesitancy in the beginning.”
Despite being among the world’s major producers of coronavirus
vaccines, India faces a mammoth task in innoculating its 1.3
billion people, partly due to the logistical challenges of
reaching remote areas and skepticism and lack of knowledge about
the process.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has said it aims to
vaccinate all eligible and willing Indians by the end of this
year, but so far, only 240 million of the country’s 950 million
adults have had at least one shot, according to federal health
data.
The country is battling a ferocious second wave of the
coronavirus that has battered its health system, and scientists
have warned vaccinations are critical to protect against a third
wave of the virus expected later this year.
India has recorded some 29.3 million COVID-19 infections - the
second highest number after the United States, as well as
363,079 deaths.
Health systems have fallen short of reaching many in the rural
interiors and remote corners, some of which have no motorable
roads.
"Until today, not a single doctor has come to this area, but
today, a team has come to administer coronavirus vaccines to
us," said Mohammed Ashraf, one of the 200 people who got their
first dose of the vaccine on Thursday at Lidderwat. "We are
happy and thankful."
(Reporting by Sanna Irshad Mattoo in Lidderwat; writing by
Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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