Rural India struggles to vaccinate villagers despite Covid-19 surge

In contrast to the long queues for Covid-19 jabs and tests in India’s urban areas, vaccine hesitancy is rife in rural India. In the town of Palghar in the western state of Maharashtra, a doctor at the vaccination centre said he had not seen “a single person” from among the 100,000 some people living in nearby villages come for vaccination. Some local doctors said reluctance among villagers has been fuelled by misinformation and myths surrounding the vaccine. The number of Covid-19 cases has flattened out in major cities, but the virus is still spreading in rural areas and the country’s southern states.