COVID-19 vaccinations: India's efforts to immunise visually impaired people

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global health emergency and its economic and social effects have disrupted all aspects of life. The emergency caused one of the most sustained disruptions in the public health sector and immunization, however, it pushed the health workforce to be future-ready. Nearly, 70.3 percent of the population worldwide is jabbed with COVID-19 vaccine so far with over 2.53 billion additional/booster doses administered globally.

In India, the first dose and second dose of the COVID-19 vaccination coverage have exceeded 219.04 crores and 94.91 crores respectively. 4.10 crore first doses have been administered to the age group 12-14 years among whom are disabled ones like the visually impaired. There are about 4.95 million blind population and around 70 million visually impaired population of which 0.24 million are children across Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Karnataka.

Our frontline healthcare-warriors under project MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have been complementing the government’s efforts on the ground to ensure that the vaccine is received by these vulnerable beneficiaries in India.

The project team has been working with marginalized and vulnerable populations across 18 States/Union Territories of India to strengthen demand for and provide access to COVID-19 vaccination. Our key priorities for the visually impaired group included accessibility to COVID-19 vaccination at appropriate vaccination centers, removing the fear related to COVID-19 vaccines, and ensuring immunization.

Like, World Sight Day 2022 was recently observed to draw our attention to the challenges faced by the visually impaired population; so, it is also crucial to acknowledge the efforts taken by our frontline workers for ensuring a successful COVID-19 vaccination drive among these vulnerable people.

In fact, while working with differently abled populations, the challenges were very different in nature. The vaccine hesitancy among the marginalized, especially the visually impaired, had been a major concern due to various myths and misconceptions. In many cases, caregivers were found to be reluctant to take them for vaccination as they felt that since these people already had a disability the vaccination would not help them.

The teams interacted with district and block-level teams for microplanning, conducting outreach, and COVID-19 vaccination camps. They along with the network of local NGOs worked on building confidence and allaying fears and misconceptions related to COVID-19 vaccines.

Teams were trained to work with specific populations. For instance, the team mapping visits discovered that the vaccination rates among visually impaired children were low in a school in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Eligible beneficiaries with visual impairment could not maintain social distancing as many needed personal assistants or they could not gauge the distances. Others had difficulties reaching designated healthcare centres as there was no accessible information, or lack of an escort to guide them to the centres.

While interacting with the teachers and school staff, it was highlighted that administering the vaccine to these children was not an easy task due to a lack of fear and awareness since they were unable to access correct information through conventional visual modes of communication channels.

To overcome these obstacles, our team organized a cultural event where music and instruments were played at the location to cheer up and motivate the children to vaccinate for their due doses. The first and foremost step was the engagement with health line and social welfare departments and elected representatives assisting in strengthening outreach efforts.

Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, visually impaired children, as well as adults, were vaccinated with consistent endeavors involving counselling to combat the fears and myths.

To prioritize every vision-impaired eligible person for vaccination, sharing of enhanced knowledge, specialized training, cross-learnings across states and UTs, and Private Public Partnerships (PPP) model can enhance COVID-19 vaccination coverage and thereby keep the vulnerable communities safe and healthy from the viral.

The visually impaired community has been the priority due to its enhanced vulnerability. The project has deployed innovative community-based approaches and engaged with local groups to ensure that the community is vaccinated, thereby safeguarding them against COVID-19.

Dr Gopal Krishna Soni is the Project Director of MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation & Equity and Dr Asha Hans Co-Founder, and Executive Vice President of Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre (SMRC)

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