GUWAHATI, May19: An aggressive door-to-door campaign at the village level will go a long way to reduce vaccination hesitancy and accelerate the pace of inoculation in Meghalaya, particularly among persons above 45 years of age.
Making this observation, John F Kharshiing, the chairman of The Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya said, “Most villages do not have Internet facilities. Besides, most families in rural areas cannot register online for vaccination in the absence of smart phones. Hence there is an urgent need for enrollment through a door to door and village to village campaign.”
“Urgently capacitating and expanding common service centres in the villages, incentivising the ASHAs, Gram Sevaks, VDPs, including providing equipment and budgetary support for secretarial staff in the village chiefs’ offices will immensely help in the enrollment drive,” Kharshiing told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
“Vaccination for above 45 years has been very slow and will require effective synergy between all the stakeholders wherein the state government and health department must take the lead in coordinating with the MLAs, MDCs, traditional chiefs at all levels, NGOs, all faith/Church Leaders and civil society,” Kharshiing said.
The approach and execution of the short and long term plans, he said, will be critical to the success of the vaccination drive.
“Close coordination by deputy commissioners and health department in facilitating the MLAs/MDCs, particularly the village chiefs with effective tools for awareness, will make a difference,” he said.
A number of faith /Church leaders have given their call via print and electronic media to their faithful to come forward to vaccinate. “However, when enrollment for other benefits is itself a challenge, vaccination during such extraordinary times is obviously a monumental challenge for the state,” Kharshiing, who is also the adviser and spokesperson, Federation of Khasi States, said.
‘Crisis response needed’
United Democratic Party (UDP) general secretary, Jemino Mawthoh, on the other hand, observed, “I personally feel that the preparedness at all levels to respond effectively to a crisis situation is not very encouraging even as Meghalaya has never faced a crisis of this gravity.”
“Although the state is mandated by the NDMA Act to make the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) more proactive, the institutional arrangements are yet to be in place,” Mawthoh said.
“Political and Church leaders have no doubt made attempts to motivate but are not able to convincingly urge the majority of the people to go for testing and vaccination,” he said.
‘Loopholes exist’
KHNAM leader Thomas Passah opined that it is sole responsibility of the government to ensure awareness on COVID tests and vaccination since last year.
“But the government has not done enough, especially in the rural areas. Not only tests and vaccination, there are failures in other fronts as well,” Passah said.
“The chief minister has asked the political parties to avoid criticising the government but come up with suggestions to fight COVID. So we suggest that awareness programmes on COVID tests and vaccination should be intensified across districts. The MLAs need to be proactive in their respective constituencies in this regard,” he said.