Eager to go abroad, Punjab youth propel jab drive in villages

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 19

The foreign dreams of Punjab’s youth are giving wings to the Covid-19 immunisation programme in rural areas of the state, which otherwise were reporting vaccine hesitancy.

60 lakh inoculated

To date, almost 60 lakh doses of the vaccine have been administered in Punjab. Though data is not available, it is believed that almost 65 per cent of the doses have been administered in urban areas

With thousands of youth eager to go to foreign nations for higher education or jobs, they are now coming forward to get the jabs, which are mandatory in many countries. Doctors working in rural areas of the state now say that this factor alone is helping drive up vaccination numbers.

To date, almost 60 lakh doses of the vaccine have been administered in Punjab. Though data is not available, it is believed that almost 65 per cent of the doses have been administered to people in urban areas of the state.

“Since beginning of June, when youth start applying for visas to other countries, there has been a rush to get inoculated. Otherwise, we were witnessing a situation where urbanites were pulling strings to get their shots, while there were few takers in the rural areas. As more youth come to the vaccination centres, we are using this opportunity to convince them to ask their parents and other older relatives to come forward for the vaccination,” said Dr Gagandeep Singh, posted in Moga.

Punjab had been reporting a rather slow response to its vaccination programme in rural areas because the population was in a denial mode over the pandemic. Dr Gurmail Singh Ankhi, posted in Bathinda, said there was a reluctance among the older people in rural areas for vaccination. “As majority of them suffer from either diabetes or heart ailments, they have been telling health workers that they were scared that the vaccine could have an adverse impact on their health,” he said.

Interestingly, the rural Doaba region, which has an NRI connection, is bucking the trend. Dr Mohanpreet Singh, Senior Medical Officer, Tibba, said since the villagers remain connected to their kin in foreign lands, people had been coming forward in sizeable numbers to get vaccinated.