In MP villages, social boycott, fatwa counter ‘jab fears’

Elders and religious leaders have joined the campaign to overcome vaccine hesitancy particularly among the rural population in Madhya Pradesh by issuing social boycott calls and fatwas.

Village elders in four panchayats, Ratibad, Sarvor, Sikandarabad and Mundla, in Bhopal districts met in Khekra village, nearly 35 km from here last week to find a way to remove vaccine hesitancy among the locals.

“We have decided to deny the people who refuse to get vaccinated to participate in any social and religious functions in our villages since they have the potential to turn spreaders in future”, Naresh Kushwaha (69) of Ratibad, nearly 35 km from here told this newspaper on Tuesday.

The four panchayats have a population of around 20,000.

Of them, hardly 4,000 people have so far received at least the first dose of vaccine.

According to Kushwaha, rumours on the negative impact of the vaccine have turned many villagers away from vaccines.

“We had held no less than half a dozen meetings of villagers to convince them to get vaccinated. But, they started arguing against vaccination forcing us to take the tough decision to keep them away from the social and religious functions in the interest of safety of other villagers”, Nandan

Dwividy of Mundla panchayat said.

Almost the entire population of Fatehpur Dabra panchayat in Bhopal district has turned away the mobile vaccine teams following rumours that the vaccine causes serious illness. The panchayat has around 5,000 inhabitants.

The local administration has taken the help of the local Muslim cleric to ensure vaccination of his community.

Accordingly, the local cleric Abdul Kalam Qasmi issued a fatwa asking people of his community to get vaccinated in the interest of their health.

In fact, local sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Jameel Khan had approached the cleric seeking his help for vaccination of people of his community, leading the latter to issue the fatwa.

Similar tactics being employed by leaders of societies in other villages in the districts of Indore, Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Damoh, Alirajpur, Dhar, Betul, Raisen, and Chhindwara have started paying dividends, official reports reaching state health department here said.

Besides the initiatives by the locals, intervention by the state government has helped remove vaccine hesitancy in many villages in the state, a senior health department officer said.

“We have developed a mechanism to tackle vaccine hesitancy among some people in the rural pockets of the state. We have prepared modules of rumours making rounds and how to act on them”, state vaccine coordinator Dr Santosh Shukla told this newspaper.

The crisis management committees constituted at the village level have been effectively dealing with the challenge, he added.

Besides, the state government has launched ‘Yuva Shakti Corona Mukti’ campaign to generate awareness among the people on vaccination.

“We are going to deploy 16 lakh college students in the state after imparting them training to give a big push to the vaccination”, Dr Shukla said.

BESIDES, THE govt has launched ‘Yuva Shakti Corona Mukti’ drive to help generate awareness among the people on vaccination in the state.