On boats, trucks and JCB: Officials cross all barriers to exceed vaccine target in Arunachal district

Due to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the district, Changlang administration announced a “vaccination challenge” for the 12 health care centres

Authorities of Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh, located on the border of Myanmar, have managed to vaccinate 50 per cent of its population in the 18 to 44 age group and 90 per cent of its 45+ age group against Covid-19 using unconventional modes of transport to reach there.

Due to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the district, Changlang’s district administration announced a “vaccination challenge” for the 12 health care centres to ramp up the vaccination process.

Devansh Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Changlang, told The Indian Express, “A few weeks ago, the active caseload had crossed 400… We realised we had to vaccinate as fast as we could.”

In the three-day-long campaign, the authorities managed to give the first shot to 44,366 people in the age group of 18 to 44 years and 20,227 people in the 45+ age group, which accounts for 50 per cent and 90 per cent of the total population in each category respectively.

The largely forested Changlang is located around 300 km away from the state’s capital, Itanagar. “It was especially a challenge to go to areas across the Noa Dihing River. Most are not connected by bridges,” Yadav said.

In a tweet, Devansh Yadav shared photos of the health care authorities’ efforts to reach there. In the images, the healthcare workers can be seen using boats, a JCB excavator and a truck on muddy roads to carry out the vaccination process.

In the vaccination challenge, the healthcare workers were given daily targets based on the population in a circle with a cash prize, which they can use to meet the requirements of their centres. For maximum vaccinations in a day, the first prize was for Rs 2 lakh, followed by Rs 1 lakh to the second-prize winners, and Rs 75,000 for the third-prize winners.

“The result was great. Put together, the district crossed its target by 200.1per cent,” Yadav said. Before this initiative, only 13 per cent of the 18-44 age group and 80 per cent of the 45+ age group were vaccinated in the Changlang district.

A 25-year-old nurse, Takio Jully, who rode the JCB, said, “I have been doing vaccinations since April, but never before did we have to travel in a JCB for it.” She described it as a “novel experience” and added, “It took us two hours to travel about 30 km. When we arrived, even the villagers, who are usually cut off, found it amusing.”

The Innao Primary Health Centre (PHC) managed to bag the first prize by administering more than 900 Covid-19 shots in areas inhabited by the Chakma community, which earlier had a daily target of 300.

Sharing her experience, Jully said people were apprehensive about taking the vaccine, until the benefits were explained to them. She said, “Everyone has to get a shot, so we will go anywhere to administer it, even if it involves going on a JCB.”