Slums have been a challenge for state health authorities aiming to complete the Covid-19 two-dose vaccination programme.
But while other states have reported vaccine distrust as a cause for hesitancy, in Bengaluru, the issue appears to be fixed to poor access to doses, a study has shown.
The study spanning four metropolises — Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata — was conducted between April and May 2021, when the vaccination programme was gaining momentum.
Dr Sathyanarayana Tamyshetty, associate professor, Indian Institute of Public Health, the corresponding author for the study, pointed out that the project was driven by a desire to understand the reasons for lack of vaccine confidence and potential barriers impeding the vaccination drive within communities in urban slums and informal settlements.
"About 25 per cent of all metros are made up of slums where 5 per cent to 6 per cent of the people do not have their own phones and 3 per cent to 5 per cent are either digitally illiterate or partly literate. These are people, even if they want vaccination, have no idea of how to get a dose,” he said.
Whereas in Mumbai and Delhi, a lack of understanding about vaccinations and fear of adverse effects following immunisation dominated a lack of confidence in doses, in Bengaluru, researchers found something far different: a lack of access to the internet among the poor preventing registrations (26.3 per cent of 142 respondents), a lack of supporting documents (14 per cent), an inability to spare a day from work (13 per cent), and even lack of access to vaccination sites for people with disabilities (10.1 per cent).
Dr Tamyshetty explained that this could be because the study location in the city was a 10,000-population slum (Vijinapura), which did not have proper access to vaccinations. Furthermore, it has a sizable population of elderly who are not digitally literate and therefore unaware or unable to secure vaccination.
"There is also a sense of apathy among these aged individuals who already feel that they are at the end of their lives and therefore do not need to be vaccinated,” he said.
Dr A S Balasundar, Chief Health Officer, BBMP, said vaccination coverage has improved in slums since the second wave but added that hesitancy continues to be noted among the elderly.
Dr Tamyshetty added that numbers of digitally illiterate people continue to remain unvaccinated.
The findings, published in the journal, Vaccines, were corroborated by volunteers from NGO The United Front (TUF), working in an unrelated, independent capacity in slums at Kushalnagar, KG Halli, and Vijinapura.
Job requirement
TUF president Mohammed Irfan Sadiq said that an independent survey, which began in October, found that housemaids, auto drivers, street vendors, and factory workers were among the first to get a dose — because it was a job requirement.
“About 60 per cent of 12,000 slum dwellers surveyed had taken the first dose. But only 80 per cent of these opted to take it a second time.
"Many had developed side effects during the first dose and they did not want to lose a day’s work again because of the side effects,” Sadiq said.
He added that the third wave, however, had prompted renewed interest among slum dwellers to get a dose.
Check out DH's latest videos
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks