NASHIK: The rustic setting for the vaccination drive was indeed charming, with doses being administered to 11 tribals under a tree by the banks of the Narmada in a village in Nandurbar district on Tuesday. But beneath the external appeal ran a tale of poor accessibility to the village, inadequate building infrastructure, absymal Net connectivity and a huge reluctance to take the shots. A team of nine officials from Akkalkuwa took around four hours, travelling by boat and in mountainous terrain, to reach the tribal village of Chimalkhedi. Akkalkuwa is around 450km from Nashik city. Akkalkuwa tehsildar Ramji Rathod, who led the team, told TOI that despite their best efforts, only 11 people aged above 45 took the first shots at Chimalkhedi. While seven were from the village, four were from the neighbouring villages of Manibelli and Sinduri. There are over 150 eligible beneficiaries in these three villages. Rathod said mobile connectivity in Chimalkhedi was a major issue. A team member had to climb a hillock near the village to get connectivity to register the beneficiaries on the CoWin app. The vaccinations were eventually carried out under the tree only after the officials felt that the exercise could be carried out safely and comfortably there, he said. “There are two government structures in the village. But we could not use the local school building as it was too hot inside. Besides, the local anganwadi kendra is under renovation. Since we could not have held the drive in the small dwellings of the villagers, we decided to administer the vaccines under the tree on the banks of the Narmada river,” said Rathod.
Health workers travel 4 hrs to Maharashtra tribal village, vaccinate 11 under tree
