How Maharashtra's Rural Districts Are Trying To Tackle Vaccine Hesitancy

A gram panchayat in Hingoli district has offered insurance worth Rs 5 lakh to anyone who gets tested for Covid and takes vaccine shots.

With vaccine hesitancy threatening to derail the Covid immunisation exercise in Maharashtra's rural areas, local authorities have made several announcements to draw people to the booths. A gram panchayat in Hingoli district has offered an insurance worth Rs 5 lakh to anyone who gets tested for Covid and takes vaccine shots. At Kalvan in Nashik district, MLA Nitin Pawar has announced a grant of Rs 15 lakh for gram panchayats that spread awareness and ensure 100 per cent vaccination. Maharashtra may be at the top of the table when it comes to vaccination numbers in the country, but only 3.69 per cent of its 12 crore population has been fully vaccinated so far. Less than 3 per cent of the people in Hingoli, Palghar, Nandurbar, Parbhani, Jalgaon and Gadchiroli have received both doses. At the root of the vaccine hesitancy in rural and tribal-dominated areas of the state is rumours regarding the safety of the shots.