Vaccine coverage is govt’s job

While the Karnataka government’s proposal to launch door-to-door Covid-19 vaccinations in rural areas to increase the coverage is welcome, the move to take coercive steps in Bengaluru to achieve the objective is questionable. The state is facing challenges in inoculating the eligible population in villages due to shortage of doses at primary health centres coupled with vaccine hesitancy. Though the government has held several campaigns on the efficacy of vaccines, rumours continue to take precedence over facts with many still continuing to believe that it would have adverse side effects. For instance, in some villages of Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district which has a high literacy rate, many are yet to receive their first dose even seven months after the drive began. Due to the poor footfall at PHCs, even those keen to get jabbed are forced to return disappointed. At the same time, many centres frequently run out of vaccines, further compounding the problem. This has its own fallout as daily wage farm labourers are unable to repeatedly skip work for the sake of getting vaccinated.

In Bengaluru, it is a different story altogether with the government conveniently washing its hands of the responsibility and shifting the onus on employers who at their own cost will have to ensure that 100 per cent of their employees are administered at least one dose of the vaccine or face prosecution under the Epidemic Diseases Act. In a controversial circular, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has empowered marshals and health officers to enter any commercial establishment including offices, industries, hotels and restaurants from the second week of September and check the vaccination certificates of employees. While the employers cannot be punished for the BBMP’s failure, such intimidating measures are sure to open the floodgates of corruption. Various industry bodies, including the hoteliers’ association, while promising total compliance, have demanded that the BBMP should first make vaccines available. While long queues or shortage of doses are common at BBMP facilities, they have pointed out that not everybody, especially small businesses, can afford paying upwards of Rs 1,000 per dose in private hospitals.

While the government should quickly launch the door-to-door vaccination programme in rural areas without further vacillation, in Bengaluru, BBMP should immediately withdraw the circular and ensure inoculation at the premises of commercial establishments, instead of shirking its responsibility. Unless the government undertakes the vaccination drive on a war footing by plugging all gaps, the target of covering the entire eligible population by the year-end will only remain on paper.