Over 100 visually impaired people got Covid jabs at a Kolkata hospital on August 31. The bulk of the recipients were hawkers on local trains before the Covid pandemic struck. Some of them sang on trains and asked for alms.
The recipients were enlisted by the Society For The Welfare of The Blind. The free camp was organised by ESI Hospital, Maniktala, in association with Calcutta Eye Hospital.
“For blind people, maintaining social distance is almost an alien concept. These people should have been prioritised while allotting vaccines. But they have been left out,” said Biswajit Ghosh, the secretary of the society.
The beneficiaries were from North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan and Kolkata. “Some had come from as far as Bongaon and Gangasagar,” said Ghosh. “We have been vaccinating a large number of people every day. It is our privilege to have been able to organise a special vaccination drive for the visually impaired,” said Mayukh Ray, medical superintendent, ESI Hospital.