As the day-long dry run to check the logistics of administering the coronavirus vaccine to the larger population of the country gets underway in all the states today, the Union health minister, Harsh Vardhan, hinted that the COVID-19 vaccine would be provided free of cost to healthcare and frontline workers across India.
“In first phase of COVID-19 Vaccination, free vaccine shall be provided across the nation to most prioritised beneficiaries that include 1 crore healthcare and 2 crore frontline workers,” Vardhan wrote on Twitter. He also said that details of how further 27 crore priority beneficiaries are to be vaccinated until July 2021 are being finalised.
There are four broad objectives of the dry-run which include testing linkages between planning, implementation and reporting mechanisms; identifying challenges and a way forward prior to actual implementation, etc.
Prior to this dry-run, another two-day dry-run was conducted in four states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Assam last week. The learnings from this dry-run have been included in today’s exercise across the country, said Vardhan.
Interestingly, last month, Gaon Connection, India’s biggest rural media platform, conducted the first survey of its kind on the ‘COVID19 Vaccine and Rural India’ to understand the willingness and financial capabilities of rural Indians to afford the corona vaccine.
The survey found that almost every eighth resident of rural India was aware that the corona vaccine should be out shortly. Slightly less than half (44 per cent) of the rural households were willing to pay and get the vaccine. But, another 36 per cent did not want to pay for it. Two-third of those who were willing to pay for the vaccine wanted its price not to exceed Rs 500. Another one-fourth said they would like to pay between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Whereas, around eight per cent were willing to pay between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 for two doses of the vaccine.
In terms of ration card holding respondent families, more than half (53 per cent) of the Above Poverty Line families said they were willing to buy the COVID-19 vaccine, while 32 per cent such families were not willing to pay for the vaccine.
In the case of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, 39 per cent respondent families were not willing to pay for the corona vaccine, whereas another 34 per cent Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families had said they would not pay for the vaccine.
The Gaon Connection Survey was conducted face-to-face among 6,040 people in 60 districts of 16 states and one union territory by Gaon Connection Insights, the data and insights arm of Gaon Connection. The survey, released as ‘The Rural Report 3: COVID-19 Vaccine and Rural India’ and available in full for a free download on www.ruraldata.in.
“My husband had died in an accident while returning from Aurangabad during the lockdown. I now shoulder the responsibility of two children and my elderly in-laws. I am managing to stay afloat on the small income I earn from sewing and embroidery,” Pushpa Devi told Gaon Connection.
Her deceased husband, a resident of Maman panchayat of Umaria district in Madhya Pradesh, had died during the COVID-19 lockdown while walking home with other migrant workers on the railway tracks. Sixteen migrant workers were killed when a goods train ran over them as they had dozed off due to exhaustion.
“There is also a loan of fifty thousand rupees upon me. I often think of going out in order to earn better but am delaying that in the hope of soon receiving a corona vaccine. When the poor are getting free ration, they should also be vaccinated for free,” she said.
“There’s no two ways about it. The corona vaccine and the vaccination programme would cost money but it is also a fact that a significant population will not be able to afford a thousand or two thousand rupees vaccine,” Vikrant Singh, the founder and president of the Finance and Economics Think Council, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), told Gaon Connection.
“In a situation where people have already lost their livelihood and suffered economic losses due to the pandemic, the government will have to pay attention so as the people living below the poverty line receive free vaccine,” he added.
Take the case of Upendra Kushwaha, a resident of Hamirpur district in Uttar Pradesh, who used to work at a denim wear manufacturing unit in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Following the lockdown, he had to return home on foot over 1,000 kilometres. Kushwaha has been sitting at home ever since.
“I could not find any job in the village. I have no agricultural land and have already incurred a heavy debt. Although I am working as a labourer, the wages that I am getting are very poor. My priority now will be to repay my loan first,” he told Gaon Connection. “I do wish to avoid corona but if the vaccine would be for two thousand rupees, it would be difficult for my family of six to be vaccinated,” he added.
Last August, Gaon Connection conducted another nationwide survey to understand the impact of COVID-19 on rural India. This face-to-face survey had 25,300 respondents from 179 districts of 23 states and three union territories of the country. Eighty per cent rural respondents said their work was affected due to the lockdown. Also, one in five rural households sold or mortgaged land, jewellery or valuables during the lockdown.
Amulya Nidhi, a public health expert associated with Jan Swasthya Abhiyan in Madhya Pradesh, told Gaon Connection, “Good health is the right of all. A large population in the country is deprived of health facilities. The government must attend to the healthcare of poor people. It will have to pay attention to the price of COVID-19 vaccine.”
With inputs from Mithilesh Dhar.
