Low smartphone reach coupled with lack of digital literacy hit rural India Covid vaccine drive
According to data released by the telecom regulator for February, tele-density, or the number of wireless devices per 100 people, was 60% in rural areas, compared with 140 in cities. A majority of the subscribers in the countryside have feature phones, not smartphones, and many of them don’t know how to use the Internet.
Mumbai | New Delhi: On a Sunday morning last month, Adhi Kesavan and his wife travelled 5-7 km from their home at Gudiyattam in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district to a common service centre to register their names for Covid-19 vaccination.
The 68-year-old villager did not own, or know how to use, a smartphone to register their names on the government’s vaccination tracking app, Co-Win. The panchayat head said he could do that at the nearest e-sevai maiyyam, as the common service centre (CSC) is known locally.
“We heard it from our panchayat head that we can get vaccinated if we register in the e-sevai maiyyam. Our number will be given to the hospitals nearby and we will get a call once the vaccine is ready,” he said.
He is still waiting for that call.
While a shortage of vaccine supplies is blamed for stretching the wait of Kesavan, low smartphone penetration and Internet access, and lack of digital literacy are also blocking rural folks' reach to vaccines in the backward areas of the country.
According to data released by the telecom regulator for February, tele-density, or the number of wireless devices per 100 people, was 60% in rural areas, compared with 140 in cities. A majority of the subscribers in the countryside have feature phones, not smartphones, and many of them don’t know how to use the Internet.
Activists have highlighted the digital divide as an impediment to the vaccination drive in the rural areas if people have to book a slot online. In response to a question by the Supreme Court on this, the union home ministryhas said people could make use of the CSCs to register on the Co-Win platform.
But unlike Kesavan, many are unaware also of facilities like CSCs.
In Kerala, where the awareness on vaccination is seen as high, the CSCs — locally called Akshaya centres — are witnessing robust traffic from villagers and the elderly to book slots online. But availability of slots is often a problem.
"We are seeing people come in, but sometimes the slots get cancelled or are not available here," said the manager at one of the centres, requesting anonymity.
FAKE NEWS, HESITANCY
In many rural parts, hesitation and misinformation are also affecting the vaccination drive.
"As a citizen of India, it is our duty to stand in the queue and get vaccinated. All the arrangements are done by the government, but people are still hesitant in some parts," said Selva Vinayagam, director of Tamil Nadu’s Department of Public Health.
As per the Press Information Bureau, there are about 30,000 primary healthcare centres in India and 24,855 of these are situated in rural areas. Officials from the health ministry said people could also walk in for vaccination. But often, these facilities are not fully utilised by the locals because of lack of awareness or fear about side effects.
"There is so many fake news spread on WhatsApp and coincidental death after vaccination which indeed has created a hesitation among people to get vaccinated. If people want to get vaccinated, there are so many ways," Vinayagam said.
Bilal Khan, an activist who has launched a vaccination awareness campaign in Maharashtra, said many in rural areas were either not aware of the smartphone registration or could not afford a device. Also, people here are more worried about feeding their families than getting the jab, Khan added.
COMPANIES STEP IN
Fintech startup Spice Money is among several companies and NGOs that are stepping up to plug the gaps in vaccination in rural India.
The company, along with its philanthropist partner Sonu Sood, is building a database to aid the government in analysing what percentage of population in rural areas has been vaccinated and which areas need to be prioritised for vaccine distribution.
Through its network of 500,000 representatives, the company has claimed to have lent on-ground help across 18,000 places in more than 700 districts.
“The Co-Win portal must be made more inclusive by making it multilingual and we also seriously need to consider the section of society that does not have identification documents like the Aadhaar Card,” Spice Money founder Dilip Modi said.
BANKIT, a Noida-based fintech startup, has set up what it calls DigiMitra outlets in rural areas to assist villagers in registering for the inoculation.
The company aims to handhold more than 2.2 million citizens for vaccine registration from its outlets.
“There is a huge digital divide between rural and urban India. Despite significant growth overall in terms of technology adoption, rural India is still not well equipped or skilled to use available digital sources,” said Amit Nigam, BANKIT’s executive director.
The digital divide, meanwhile, is allowing the tech savvy from cities to book the slots online at vaccinating centres in villages.
“Class one families in fancy cars are driving by our centre to get vaccines because they are able to book a slot at immediate availability while the poor villagers keep running around with a slip in hand,” said a primary health centre attendant at Nuh in Haryana, who gave her name as Rekha.
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According to data released by the telecom regulator for February, tele-density, or the number of wireless devices per 100 people, was 60% in rural areas, compared with 140 in cities. A majority of the subscribers in the countryside have feature phones, not smartphones, and many of them don’t know how to use the Internet.
The 68-year-old villager did not own, or know how to use, a smartphone to register their names on the government’s vaccination tracking app, Co-Win. The panchayat head said he could do that at the nearest e-sevai maiyyam, as the common service centre (CSC) is known locally.
“We heard it from our panchayat head that we can get vaccinated if we register in the e-sevai maiyyam. Our number will be given to the hospitals nearby and we will get a call once the vaccine is ready,” he said.
He is still waiting for that call.
While a shortage of vaccine supplies is blamed for stretching the wait of Kesavan, low smartphone penetration and Internet access, and lack of digital literacy are also blocking rural folks' reach to vaccines in the backward areas of the country.
According to data released by the telecom regulator for February, tele-density, or the number of wireless devices per 100 people, was 60% in rural areas, compared with 140 in cities. A majority of the subscribers in the countryside have feature phones, not smartphones, and many of them don’t know how to use the Internet.
Activists have highlighted the digital divide as an impediment to the vaccination drive in the rural areas if people have to book a slot online. In response to a question by the Supreme Court on this, the union home ministryhas said people could make use of the CSCs to register on the Co-Win platform.
But unlike Kesavan, many are unaware also of facilities like CSCs.
In Kerala, where the awareness on vaccination is seen as high, the CSCs — locally called Akshaya centres — are witnessing robust traffic from villagers and the elderly to book slots online. But availability of slots is often a problem.
"We are seeing people come in, but sometimes the slots get cancelled or are not available here," said the manager at one of the centres, requesting anonymity.
FAKE NEWS, HESITANCY
In many rural parts, hesitation and misinformation are also affecting the vaccination drive.
"As a citizen of India, it is our duty to stand in the queue and get vaccinated. All the arrangements are done by the government, but people are still hesitant in some parts," said Selva Vinayagam, director of Tamil Nadu’s Department of Public Health.
As per the Press Information Bureau, there are about 30,000 primary healthcare centres in India and 24,855 of these are situated in rural areas. Officials from the health ministry said people could also walk in for vaccination. But often, these facilities are not fully utilised by the locals because of lack of awareness or fear about side effects.
"There is so many fake news spread on WhatsApp and coincidental death after vaccination which indeed has created a hesitation among people to get vaccinated. If people want to get vaccinated, there are so many ways," Vinayagam said.
Bilal Khan, an activist who has launched a vaccination awareness campaign in Maharashtra, said many in rural areas were either not aware of the smartphone registration or could not afford a device. Also, people here are more worried about feeding their families than getting the jab, Khan added.
COMPANIES STEP IN
Fintech startup Spice Money is among several companies and NGOs that are stepping up to plug the gaps in vaccination in rural India.
The company, along with its philanthropist partner Sonu Sood, is building a database to aid the government in analysing what percentage of population in rural areas has been vaccinated and which areas need to be prioritised for vaccine distribution.
Through its network of 500,000 representatives, the company has claimed to have lent on-ground help across 18,000 places in more than 700 districts.
“The Co-Win portal must be made more inclusive by making it multilingual and we also seriously need to consider the section of society that does not have identification documents like the Aadhaar Card,” Spice Money founder Dilip Modi said.
BANKIT, a Noida-based fintech startup, has set up what it calls DigiMitra outlets in rural areas to assist villagers in registering for the inoculation.
The company aims to handhold more than 2.2 million citizens for vaccine registration from its outlets.
“There is a huge digital divide between rural and urban India. Despite significant growth overall in terms of technology adoption, rural India is still not well equipped or skilled to use available digital sources,” said Amit Nigam, BANKIT’s executive director.
The digital divide, meanwhile, is allowing the tech savvy from cities to book the slots online at vaccinating centres in villages.
“Class one families in fancy cars are driving by our centre to get vaccines because they are able to book a slot at immediate availability while the poor villagers keep running around with a slip in hand,” said a primary health centre attendant at Nuh in Haryana, who gave her name as Rekha.
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