Illiteracy and rumours about infertility is causing low vaccine coverage in Haryana’s Nuh district

Illiteracy and misinformation are resulting in low vaccination coverage in the Nuh district in Haryana. As per current data shared by the district administration the first dose coverage in Nuh is 72 per cent while the second dose coverage is just 35 per cent, much below the national average. Only 821 beneficiaries have so far taken the precautionary dose since January 10.sty

Nuh is one of the lowest performing districts in Haryana in terms of Covid-19 vaccination coverage. It is also among 48 districts in the country with lowest vaccine coverage according to data shared by state health ministries to Centre in October last year. In the age group of 15 to 17 years, only one third of the eligible population took the first dose of the vaccination since January 3.

According to health department officials, vaccine resistance is resulting from lower literacy, ignorance and misinformation about vaccines. Dr Harshit Goyal at Nuh community health centre informed the Indian Express that lot of people believe in the rumour that the vaccines causes infertility in men. Sunita, an ANM worker at a primary health centre in Ghasera found that many even believe that the vaccine programme is a conspiracy by the government

The officials are trying to educate the people at the village and community level against such conspiracy theories and counsel them about the long-term benefits of vaccination. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has also expressed concern about the low vaccine coverage and urged the population to not spread misinformation.

However, making vaccination as mandatory for using services like ration, pension, petrol, bank services has brought an uptick in the vaccination coverage. Moreover, most people who come for vaccination are not internet savvy and hence go for walk-in registration at Nuh single counter for vaccination of all age groups, an official informed.

Dr Surender Kumar, chief medical officer, Nuh, however, denied of rumours is the reason behind low vaccination coverage. According to Kumar, majority are not eligible for precautionary dose and for the vaccination of adolescents, camps has been set up at schools and almost a third of them has been vaccinated already.