Elder agrees to be jabbed at panchayat president’s persistence

Tirupattur Collector Amar Kuswaha had instructed health workers to vaccinate residents of all 200 village panchayats of Tirupattur district. When Pichanur PHC staff arrived at Poorigamanimitta village in Tirupattur panchayat union to vaccinate 1,159 residents, one elderly man, Kudiyan (65), refused to get the jab.

While he was worried about his comorbidities such as blood pressure and diabetes, he said his eight children will be left without a caregiver if anything happened to him. Health workers could not convince him to abandon his fears and take the shot.

Panchayat president Paramasivam, who was present at the camp, intervened and stood guarantee for Kudiyan’s life and said he would give the same in writing.

But Kudiyan went on to list more grievances. He lamented that the government, which was pushing for vaccination, did not to provide him with a community certificate despite him approaching many officials for years. He added that he was not given the house under the state government’s free housing scheme, as well.

Paramasivam assures him that he will work towards allocating him the house and also the community certificate and gave that in writing, too. Placated by the promises, Kudiyan accepted the vaccination and the village attained 100 per cent vaccination.

The video of the incident went viral on social media and Paramasivam was lauded for efforts to ensure vaccination of all residents in the village.