BENGALURU: As India celebrates 100 Crore Vaccine mark, Bengaluru Student Community that has contributed to this feat by vaccination drives in rural areas during the lockdown, celebrates too. This was possible with a small group of 14 students who worked both in terms of crowdfunding and on-ground, at three vaccination drives in four border villages in the state, helped registration and crowd control and to ensure the process was smooth.
"I am glad to have been a part of the Nation- Recovery Exercise, directly impacting lives by vaccinating rural communities in North Karnataka," founder of BSC and State Secretary-General of NSUI.
He said that the drive which lasted from June to September in four border villages of Karnataka served 2,000 people. Ameena Baigh, a graduate of Christ University and head of community service, BSC, who has been part of all three drives so far, said donations were sought for the first two drives from ambassadors (representatives of BSC in each college), and students and their families for vaccines that were procured in collaboration with HCG hospital.
In the third vaccination drive we held a sports tournament -- Play to Vaccinated -- where teams played Cricket and Football and sponsors came in to buy the teams -- national level footballers were present for it, where they raised up to Rs 2 lakhs. The money was used for nurses traveling to Jamkhandi to further go to village clusters -- Tungal, Sangli, Todalbagi and Konnur from HCG Hubli, Ameena added Being on ground too she said there was a bit of communication barrier with a dialect change from the area but it was a great experience overall.
Vijayraj Nair, a student of New Horizon College, Marathalli, and head of student outreach, BSC who has been part of the three drives said the travel to Bagalkot, was fruitful with the first set being 1269, the second drive giving out 300 doses and the final one having 431. "It was a different experience for core committee members to be going down by road, and meeting the locals and cater to those who are not first in line to get the vaccines as mostly cities are given priority." Ameena said that students also had to go around counselling about the need for vaccine, as there was a slight resistance to getting vaccinated among locals.
Nair added that in some cases, second doses were administered, while in others first doses were given to beneficiaries. As for those who are a yet to get their second dose, the responsibility is handed back over to local government hospital in Bagalkot.