Published on: 29 Jan 2021
Under Rotary’s Covid-19 task force in India, clubs across various states have set up free vaccination centres and are also leading other collaborative efforts with respective state governments.
Pune | Updated: May 6, 2021 00:45 IST
A long-standing partner in the fight against diseases like polio, measles and rubella, Rotary is playing an important role in strengthening public trust in Covid-19 vaccines along with assisting in vaccine delivery and roll-out.
Under Rotary’s Covid-19 task force in India, clubs across various states have set up free vaccination centres and are also leading other collaborative efforts with respective state governments.
Considering there are over 940 million adults in India, to reach more individuals, the average number of doses should increase to at least 6.8 million per day, said Deepak Kapur, chair of Rotary’s India National Polio Plus Committee, and vice-chair of Rotary’s Covid-19 Task Force.
At Haryana, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, free Covid-19 vaccination centres had been set up, he said. For example, Rotary Club of Madras is working with the Tamil Nadu government to help support procurement, cold chain storage and delivery of vaccines.
Kapur also spoke about vaccine hesitancy and recalled Rotary’s experience with the oral polio vaccine.
“Rotary in India engaged with trusted religious and community leaders to form a committee that combated misinformation, encouraged vaccine acceptance and advocated for polio immunisation. The same committee is now working to advocate for coronavirus immunisation and also encouraging people to continue safe distancing practices, even after they’ve been immunised,” he added.