Assam Starts Special Covid Vaccination Drive For Transgenders

The inoculation drive, carried out at a shelter home for transgender in the city, was conducted with the support from state's health department.

Thirty members of the transgender community got their first Covid vaccination dose in Guwahati on Friday. It was the first such step reported in the entire country, sources in the government told NDTV. The inoculation drive, carried out at a shelter home for transgender in the city, was conducted with the support from state's health department. After taking the first dose of vaccination, Swati Bidhan Baruah, founder of the All Assam Transgender Association and associate vice-chairperson of Assam government's transgender welfare board said, "The main source of income of most transgender people is begging. Since they come into contact with other people, they are very vulnerable to getting infected". "As a marginalized group, they were getting left out of the vaccination process and when we requested the health department, we got a very positive response. They helped with the logistics and we were able to start the vaccination drive without any glitch," Baruah added.