Muslim body launches mega jab awareness, registration drive
In a bid to ensure equitable distribution of Covid vaccines, the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) has begun a large-scale awareness and vaccine registration drive, especially for digitally marginalised people of the country.
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The organisation has launched “Vaccination for All” campaign to demand and work towards universal inoculation in a timely manner. As part of the campaign, SIO’s “Covid Relief Task Force” volunteers in various states will raise awareness about the vaccination programme, carry out registration and provide transportation and other facilities. The organisation will also continue to press the state and central governments to ensure that no one is deprived of vaccine shots, it said.
The Task Force, which consists of over 1,000 volunteers spread across the country, was formed in April to connect Covid patients with critical medical facilities during the second wave of the pandemic. In the last two months, these volunteers fielded over 30,000 distress calls and provided verified information about the availability of oxygen, hospital beds, plasma donors, medicines and ambulance and conducted tele-counselling to around 20,000 patients, it claimed.
“In this continued fight against coronavirus, the most important phase is vaccination. It is the silver bullet to mitigate the impending crisis. However, many are still hesitant about taking the jab. On the other hand, a large section of society that lacks digital literacy and internet and mobile facilities is being deprived of vaccines. We are still miles away from universal vaccination thanks to poor planning and ill-conceived policies of the central government,” said SIO National President Mohammad Salman Ahmad.
In the upcoming weeks, the SIO plan to carry out mass-scale awareness by roping in community leaders, influential personalities and experts. “The volunteers, in collaboration with other NGOs, will set up kiosks and counters for registration support at places of worship, community centres and offices, focussing on the digitally backward areas. The organisation will also urge the government to systematically administer its responsibility of universal vaccination,” said Salman Ahmad.
