Health workers travel through hilly terrain in Naxal area to vaccinate people in Chhattisgarh villages
Nov 28, 2021
Balrampur (Chhattisgarh) [India], November 29 : Health workers in Chhattisgarh carried out a COVID-19 vaccination drive in the Naxal-affected village of Chunchuna and Pundang in the Balrampur district of the state, covering difficult routes in their quest of making the vaccine accessible to all.
The vaccination drive was carried out as a part of a mega vaccination campaign organised in the district. 616 vaccination centres were set up for this purpose and 1,26,000 vaccine doses were administered in the state on Saturday.
Teachers and Anganwadi workers also accompanied the health workers to be a part of this programme. 
A lot of excitement was seen among the local residents, who braved the Naxal influence in the district and came forward to receive their vaccine shots.
A local resident told ANI, "We have a shortage of proper roads here. But still, people from the health department came here and we got our COVID-19 vaccination. We also were made aware of the vaccination. I got vaccinated and have not experienced any problems till now."
The Sarpanch of the Chunchuna said, "This area is hilly and Naxal-dominated. The routes here are really difficult and the administration came here to administer us the COVID-19 vaccine. This will help us fight the pandemic."
Roshni, a nurse who had come for the drive in the village said that she had visited the place for the purpose of vaccination previously, but healthcare workers were threatened that time. 
"But today, there is a lot of people who have come here. They all want to get vaccinated. The route was really difficult," she added.
Kundan Kumar, the District Magistrate of Balrampur lauded the efforts of health workers shown during the drive. 
"The drive was well-planned and health workers really worked hard for it. In the coming times, such officials will be honoured as well. Awareness drives facilitated in achieving vaccination targets. Of the 1500 people who showed up, 50 per cent have been vaccinated. The remaining people will also be vaccinated soon. We will carry out vaccination drives until everyone above 18 is vaccinated in Balrampur," he said.
