Pramod Kumar, who lives in Gaya, travelled 50 kilometres, all the way back to Kaithi Bankat gram panchayat in Aurangabad district, to get vaccinated. 

“In Gaya there were long lines everywhere to get tested or get vaccinated. It was much simpler to travel the distance back to my village where I got vaccinated without any fuss,” the 56-year-old told Gaon Connection. 

Many people residing in cities and big towns are realising it is the smart thing to come back to their villages to be vaccinated. 

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Between April 3 and May 8, Kaithi Bankat panchayat in Haspur block has already had four COVID 19 vaccination camps and five corona testing camps. The population of the gram panchayat, with its 14 wards, is about 10,000. Of this those who fall in the age group between 45 and 60 years of age are approximately 3,500. Of these, nearly 1,700 people (nearly half) have been vaccinated. With the commencement of vaccination of those between 18 and 44 years of age, the number of those vaccinated is now about 2,100.  

“There is no ward in our panchayat where the camps have not been conducted,” Santosh Kumar, head of Kaithi Bankat, told Gaon Connection with pride. There are 14 wards in all in this panchayat and along with the mukhiyas or village heads, even the people are alert and aware about the COVID 19 testing and vaccines.

Door to door awareness

At a time when there are reports from rural India about the reluctance of people to get tested for COVID 19, or the paucity of testing facilities in villages, people of this panchayat are coming forward to get tested and vaccinated. “Some were reluctant initially, but not anymore,” said Santosh Kumar. “Those who were not getting a vaccination slot in towns and cities are now flocking to our villages,” he added. 

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Sudhir Kumar, one of the inhabitants of the village, goes door to door urging people to come forward and get vaccinated. When Gaon Connection spoke to him on May 8,  the 53-year old Sudhir was at a vaccination camp. “The BDO [block development officer] and the medical officer have planned out the entire campaign meticulously, which involved listing out the villages to be visited and the number of people to be tested and subsequently vaccinated,” he said. 

So far, Bihar has recorded 601,650 COVID-19 positive cases. Of these, 493,189 have recovered and 105,103 are still active cases. The number of COVID 19 deaths have been 3,357. 

Last month when people began to test positive at Bankat, the primary health centre (PHC) was informed and it immediately arranged for 100 people to be tested, mukhiya Santosh Kumar told Gaon Connection.  “Seventeen of them tested positive and the ward was immediately declared a containment zone and at the same time people were educated about the protocols they had to follow,” he said. 

The families of the patients who had tested positive were advised to isolate themselves. “We assured them that they would have to go nowhere and we would help them in all possible ways,” the mukhiya said. Others were also advised not to come into contact with the affected families. 

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Meanwhile, the head of each village in the Haspura block of Aurangabad district has been given the responsibility of ensuring the vaccination and corona testing camps go off smoothly and successfully. 

“Our mukhiya is proactive and that is the reason that we have already had so many vaccination camps,” Sudhir said. He added that there were many like Pramod Kumar who preferred to come to the village camps to be inoculated as in the urban areas, there were long lines and crowds. 

COVID19 vaccination in Bihar

According to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Haspura block, in the villages coming under it, 6,916 people had been vaccinated between April first week and till May 7. The PHC also shared that 31,842 coronavirus tests were carried out, of which 237 people tested positive. 

So far in Bihar, over 7.9 million people have been vaccinated. Of them 6.4 million have received their first dose while 1.5 million have got their second one too.  

Also Read: Fear of testing positive is making villagers in Madhya Pradesh avoid visit to COVID test centres

“We have to spread even more awareness about this,” Mina Rai, who is in charge of the PHC at Haspur, told Gaon Connection.  “Even now there are people who are reluctant to be vaccinated. But, the best response has been at Bankat where the maximum number of tests and vaccinations have been administered,” Rai said. The response in other villages of this block has been good, but not as much as Bankat, she added. 

Not all villages are as responsive, continued Rai. “At village Mawari not a single person agreed to be vaccinated. It was the same at Dilawar village too. People just refused to come forward,” she said. “The team did request the sister (ANM) to persuade the people to be vaccinated, but so far there has been nothing,” Rai added. “But in some villages such as Bankat where the mukhiya and the people are proactive and cooperative, the results have been encouraging,” Rai said. 

Meanwhile, the effort is on in this part of Bihar to work in tandem with the several levels of authorities to minimise the onslaught of the second wave of coronavirus. 

“We are enlisting the help of the mukhiyas, BDOs and the child development project officers on the field to ensure the vaccination goes on,” Nirmala Kumari, Chief Medical Officer, Aurangabad, told Gaon Connection. “Where the villagers are showing reluctance, we are sending in a team that will counsel them on the wisdom of getting vaccinated,” she said. 

Read the story here in Hindi