Good News! World's Highest Motorable Village Achieves 100% Vaccination

While some villages in India have shown resistance to the vaccination process, the village of Komic in the remote Spitiin Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh have shown the right way by achieving 100% vaccination for residents above 44 years. All thirteen panchayats of the district have been enthusiastic about the inoculation drive as residents are well-aware of their poor infrastructure and want to keep the virus at arm's length. Majority of the villagers had taken the second dose ahead of the second wave in India. "We are happy that the villagers have taken their second dose, too," says Kaza block medical officer Tenzin Norbu to The Hindustan Times.

The villagers are also actively participating in social distancing as a resident named Palzor says that the only time they get out of the house is for farming and the older generation stay inside with the children. Besides the village of Komic, situated at 15,000 ft, a health department team consisting of a vaccinator named Prem Singh, a verifier named Kulwant Singh and an ASHA worker, Padma has been visiting villages in the high altitude Langza panchayat. The panchayat has a population of 330 where 150 villagers have been vaccinated with two doses in the 44-60 years age group and 101 people have been vaccinated in the 60 plus age group. 89% of the health authorities in Kaza have been vaccinated where out of 174 healthcare workers, 154 have been vaccinated.

The ASHA worker Padma, who's also a credited social health activist, says that after the seniors, the youngsters are also enthusiastic about getting vaccinated but face difficulties to log into the Co-Win portal due to poor internet connectivity. Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur has allowed offline registrations due to poor internet facility. "Now 80% of the registration for vaccination is being done offline. Booking is done by calling up the health department and the slot is allotted based on lottery. 20% of the registration are still being done online but everyone has to first register for vaccination," says Lahaul and Spiti deputy commissioner Pankaj Rai.

Also Read: Yet Again, Sonu Sood Comes To Rescue Of COVID Patient In Chittoor District