Putting our shoulders together for enhancing COVID 19 vaccination

Retired from government service and a resident of Indore, Jagdish was also a diabetic (Diabetes Mellitus). The Samagra team, during a visit to the community, met Jagdish where he confessed his apprehension about the vaccine, especially since he was told it could interfere with his diabetes medication.

Thus, not only was Jagdish convinced about visiting the UPHC, but the Samagra FPA and ASHA continued their follow-up visits to further motivate him for vaccination.

After two weeks of follow-up by the ASHA, Jagdish agreed to take the vaccine. Today, Jagdish is a COVID-19 vaccine champion in his community and encourages his friends and neighbours to get vaccinated. It is this team work like this that has made Indore the first million-plus population district in the country to achieve 100 per cent coverage by the first-dose of the COVID vaccine.

A critical outcome objective of the Samagra project is to improve acceptance of the COVID 19 vaccine among the slum population of Indore, through improved knowledge of COVID vaccines, improved risk perception, and self-efficacy. The project’s coaches, field program associates (FPA) work with FLWs to conduct extensive and well-managed community engagement. One of the strategies that the Samagra team advocates with the FLWs are to proactively release timely information on vaccine modalities to disaggregated populations in the community, including high-risk individuals undergoing care for comorbidities.

The Samagra team coached the local ASHA to refer Jagdish to the MOIC,
who was already under treatment for diabetes and was also one of the
early adopters of the COVID-19 vaccine