Vaccine hesitancy remains a major obstacle in the country’s efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, but that is not the only reason a part of the State’s population is yet to be inoculated. Daily wage workers are at the risk of being left out of the vaccination programme due to a lack of clarity regarding the drive, which calls for a targeted awareness strategy.
D. Tirupathi, a daily wage earner, is among lakhs of people who are yet to undergo vaccination. The 32-year-old attributed it to the lack of information about vaccination timings at government health centres. “I have not taken the vaccine yet since we don’t have information about timings and the procedure. If I go to a health centre once and the staff there asks me to visit another day, I might go back two or three times. If I still don’t get the vaccine, I will be discouraged to pursue it,” Mr Tirupati told The Hindu during a conversation at the labour adda near Mahankali Temple in Secunderabad.
Several daily wagers like him have not taken the jab yet. The reasons vary from person to person. There are some who fear losing out on work for two to three days owing to side-effects post immunisation.
They earn around ₹500 for a day’s work, and mostly manage to find work for three or four days a week. They wait at the addas every morning hoping to get hired for the day.
Mahesh, an elderly worker who has missed out on vaccination so far, blames it on his ‘carelessness’. Asked by Syed Feroz, a volunteer of Nirashraya Shramika Sanghatan which works for the homeless, if it was because he feels ‘healthy’, Mr Mahesh smiled and nodded.
“There are 60-80 homeless persons who live here. Most of them are yet to take the vaccine,” said Mr Mahesh. His fellow workers said setting up vaccination camps near the labour addas will help them easily access the vaccine.
Mr Feroz said the workers will be encouraged to take the vaccine if an awareness campaign is organised to disseminate information about the inoculation drive, particularly about which health centre to approach in case of side-effects.
