Tribals say they are immune to Covid-19, refuse to get vaccinated

Mysuru: Despite the government spending crores of rupees on creating awareness about the importance of vaccination to keeping coronavirus at bay and ensure the district becomes Covid-free, tribals in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts are showing lukewarm response.

It is proving to be a big challange for health officials to convince people of Soliga tribe residing in haadis (hamlets) to get the jab. There are 12,560 tribal families making up a population of 60 thousand in 219 haadis in Hunsur, Saragur , H D Kote, Nanjanagud and Periyapatna

taluks in Mysore district. Even Hunsur MLA H P Manjunath , MLC H Vishwanath personally visited a few haadis in Hunsur , appealed to them to take the vaccine to protect themselves from the dreaded disease. But only a few turned up. Shylendra , leader of Girijan community in Begur, told The Hans India that there are 118 haadis in HD Kote and Saragur. A month back two infected persons recovered in home isolation. He said tribals are even shying away from a RT-PCR test in case they have Covid symptoms. Of the 31,516 tribals residing in haadis in Chamarajanagar district only 450 tribals have taken vaccination so far.

Speaking to The Hans India, B. Kavera, a Soliga leader from Basavanagiri haadi in H D Kote, said that the government should leave them alone. "No disease would come to haadis because we eat tuber and take herbal medicines," he declared. H D Kote taluk medical officer Dr T Ravi Kumar told The Hans India that most haadi residents say no to any visit by officials. "We are persuading them through local leaders. We are doing our best to create awareness among them while distributing food kits," he said.