Tribal priests in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district have donned the role of myth busters, going village to village to combat superstitions about Covid vaccines and encourage tribals to take the shot. Never before have these priests known as bhumkas or bhagats battled for any vaccine in this way. And it's paying off. Tribals in 30 villages, who were earlier reluctant to take the vaccine, are now ready and willing collector Amanveer Singh told TOI. In Betul's tribal regions, there are at least 25 panchayats where no one has been vaccinated the collector said. Another 47 have less than 5% vaccination, primarily bevause of rumours related to Covid vaccines. To counter this, the administration reached out to local religious heads, who readily agreed to spread awareness. Now, officials are sharing videos these "bagats" on social media, urging people to get vaccinated in local dialect. "The government is running this vaccination drive for your, safety, sagan marskile, the bhumka of Junapani village, is heard saying in Gondi dialect in one such video. Videos of 14 such tribal religious priests, are ebing cirulated, along with videos of tribals first-hand accounts of being vaccinated. In Borgaon village for instance, there were rumours of post-vaccination deaths, which were baseless said Parvat Rao Dhote of Borgaon. Around 30 detahts took place in the past two months, four of them due to Covid-19. Only one elderly person, who was vaccinated died out due to natural causes. Our panchayat was aware of this, and people got themselves vaccinated, he told. "Traditionally, tribals have their own paralled health system and beliefts, and if some information comes from there, it has its effects. We identified locla priests, hheld meetings with them, convinced them, and they are now spreading awareness. Targeted vaccination is being varied out in villages where there is a mixed ratio of triabl and non-tribal population.
