BENGALURU: While Karnataka has vaccinated over two lakh senior citizens aged over 60, several districts have shown poor turnout among the eligible sections. Districts officials pointed out that apprehensions among people about the vaccine was why some are hesitant to take the jab.
According to data from the Department of Health and Family Welfare, as of March 11, the total number of people vaccinated was 2,17,085. However, districts like Yadgir, Chamarajanagar, Haveri, Koppal and Bagalkot showed lower turnout, not even exceeding 1,500-plus vaccinations in each of the districts.
Yadgir fared the worst with only 584 senior citizens getting vaccinated, followed by Chamarajanagar with 818 individuals, while Haveri had 1,187 individuals followed by Koppal at 1,235 and Bagalkot at 1,397.
With the Health Department estimating the population of 60 years and above as per 2011 Census projections, Yadgir has over 85,659 senior citizens. But with only 584 of them having got the jab, the total achievement of the district stands only at 0.7 per cent. While Chamarajanagar is at 0.8 per cent, Haveri and Bagalkot have achieved 0.9 per cent and Koppal 1.2 per cent.
Door-to-door campaign on to increase turnout
Some district officials said the low turnout was due to apprehensions among people while others said commuting to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) was an issue. Chamarajanagar District Health Officer (DHO) Dr KH Prasad said, “ The response in has been very low. There still is hesitancy. We are trying to motivate senior citizens to get vaccinated.
I had a meeting with some NGOs, wherein the volunteers will go door to door, meet senior citizens and create awareness. A meeting was held with the Panchayat Raj department and they will also hold meetings to convince people to get vaccinated. We hope this will help and the turnout will get better.”
Dr Sindumathi Patil, DHO of Yadgir, said, “In the initial week, we wanted to gauge people’s response. The turnout was bad -- the district did not cross 400 vaccinations in the first week. We noticed that there is a better Polio vaccination turnout, as it happens door to door.
So, we decided to send ASHAs door-to-door to bring senior citizens. The deputy commissioner is now planning to make transport available for vaccination.” Alakananda Malagi, DHO of Koppal, said that they have asked health officials to create awareness in the district. “In the coming days, we will have good results,” she said.