Digital divide, indifference and lack of awareness have meant that a large number of sanitary staff working with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have not received the vaccination against COVID in the city.
“They are giving the vaccines in Budwel. I was told I will get it but after that there has been no information,” says Amruta, a sanitary worker with the GHMC sweeping the road near Rajendranagar. She estimates that she is aged about 55. Her colleague Ramachandriah too says he didn’t get the vaccine.
“I was told I will get the vaccine and I registered. A message came to my phone, I went to bada dawakhana (Osmania General Hospital) and got the vaccine along with other members of my squad,” says Chinamma, who stops sweeping and sits down to have chai near Ziyaguda abattoir. She reels off the names of her colleagues who have received the vaccine.
More than a year after cheering for frontline workers, and being the first to get the vaccines, a large number of sanitary workers in the city have not received them after the rollout began on January 16, 2021. The rollout is linked to identity cards with Aadhaar being the most preferred one followed by government issued identity cards and PAN card. The registration is being done on an app as well as the CoWIN website customised for the purpose. And the first bit of information on the website is: “Register or SignIn for Vaccination. We will send you a One Time Password on your phone number.”
While most ASHA workers and sanitation workers have cellphones, some of them don’t have. The result: Some sanitation workers, though classified as frontline workers and eligible to receive the vaccines, have been left out. All the sanitation workers who said they have received the vaccine in Purana Pul, Malakpet and Rambagh area, owned or shared cellphones. Sanitation workers in some areas of Sirimale Nagar and Rajendranagar, who said they didn’t get the vaccine didn’t own cellphone. “We didn’t take the vaccine as I was away in my village. Now, they say the disease is over,” says Chiranjeevi, who is part of an 18-member squad that cleans near Zehra Nagar in Banjara Hills.
“Vaccination is now available to everyone who can walk in with an Aadhaar card. The population priority sequencing didn’t work as the app and the website had glitches. Either the sanitation workers are not informed properly or this is about vaccine hesitancy,” said Sujatha Rao, former Health Secretary.
