PALAKKAD: Procedural delays have led to low penetration of vaccination among tribal people in the age group of 18 to 44 years in Attappadi. As the tribals of Attappadi are being administered vaccines procured by Kerala Government, the health staff should update info on two applications for one person. Initially they have to register on the CoWIN site and subsequently on the e- health site.
The registration on e-health site is being insisted so that authorities in the state capital would know how much of doses allotted to the region have been utilised, said a medical professional associated with the exercise. One of the main issues being faced here is lack of connectivity in many tribal settlements like Galasi, Kadukumanna, Uriyanchalla, Moolagangal, Vellakulam, Vechupathi, Thuduki, Thadikundu, Aanavaayi, Thoova, Chindakki and Swarnagadha.
Health volunteers said that the updation of vaccination application in the interior areas of Attappadi has become a tedious process. The only silver lining is that tribals are now increasingly aware of Covid’s ability to cause deaths and therefore they are coming forward to register themselves. They said since tribals have to register on two sites of CoWIN and e-health, the volunteers take 20 to 30 minutes to complete the process. There is also the need to verify whether the person is a tribal.
The tribals have to come with their mobile phones and the one time password (OTP) will come to their phones and only then the certification process of vaccination will be completed. Therefore, physical presence and uninterrupted connectivity have to be ensured.
Medical professionals said that the general population will travel to Coimbatore or other private hospitals and avail of vaccines, but in the case of tribals it is necessary to track each and every one since currently there were 857 active cases and already 22 deaths have been reported in the Covid second wave. Even if one dose of vaccine is provided, the tribals will be 50 per cent protected and the spread could be contained.
Currently, 77 per cent of tribals (7,302 persons) in the age bracket of above 45 years have been covered. On the other hand, tribals in the age group of 18 to 44 years, only 8 per cent (1,100) of them have been covered, said Dr Jude Jose Thomson, Attappadi Block Medical officer.The volunteers said that currently 10 medical camps are being conducted in Attappadi and each could cater to vaccinating at least 250 tribals. Therefore, in one day at least 2,500 people could have been covered.
But due to procedures involved in entering details on two sites, hardly 50 tribals are being vaccinated in each camp totalling 500 in a day. The forest officials are also helping health volunteers in travelling to remote areas on the fringes of the forest to vaccinate tribals. They said that since tribals go out to graze cattle and goats, the health volunteers wait till the evening to vaccinate them and return. In areas where there was resistance from tribals, the health volunteers were approaching the chieftain who himself takes the vaccine and recommends that it be used to the tribals also, said a volunteer.