A social outfit working for the welfare of differently-abled persons has asked the government to focus on beneficiaries who may not be in a position to turn up at vaccination centres owing to reasons of mobility, and ensure jab sites ae equipped to deal with people with special needs.
Jharkhand Viklang Manch has filed a PIL in the Jharkhand High Court seeking the judiciary’s intervention to make vaccination easily accessible to those battling physical challenges.
President of the Manch Arun Kumar Singh said that they moved court through their lawyer Anup Kumar Agarwal and are now hoping for an early hearing. Singh said the PIL was submitted online with acknowledgement number EC-JHHC01-00036-2021.
“Majority of people with different kinds of disabilities aren’t able to go to vaccination centres as many of these are not suitable for them. The first and foremost thing which the state government needs to do is to conduct vaccination at such buildings that are disabled-friendly,” Singh said.
He added that the mandatory online registration on the Co-WIN app too must be either done away with or alternative arrangements be made so that those with problems of visual impairment can easily get themselves registered. “There are several cases where people have no one to help them iwith the registration process. Hence, there should be an alternative arrangement for registration,” he said.
As per the 2011 census, there are 7.69 lakh people in the state registered as haing some or the other disability. From May 14, the state government has begun the third phase of vaccination for people between 18-44 years of age.
“We also demand that district administrations must organise door-to-door camps or locality-wise clusters for those who can’t come to vaccine centres on their own,” he said.
As per government data issued on Tuesday night, about 1 lakh among the 1.97 crore people in the age group of 18-44 in the state have received the first dose of the vaccine so far. Overall, 30,61,831 have received their first dose across different age groups since the start of the vaccination drive while only 6,75,553 have got both doses.
