Gender gap in vaccine drive; more men than women jabbed in Chandigarh

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8

Four months after the inoculation drive against Covid-19, Chandigarh has vaccinated over 56 per cent men in comparison to nearly 44 per cent women – highlighting a gender gap in the vaccination programme.

Hesitancy for vaccine

“There is a lot of misinformation related to the vaccine among women. We receive a lot of calls from women who ask whether it is safe to go for vaccination during menstruation or while taking treatment of infertility. There is nothing bigger than life, and all women should go for vaccination,” said Dr Bharti Joshi, gynaecologist.

In other words, for every 1,000 men receiving the jab, only 754 women are getting vaccinated – which is lower than the Chandigarh’s male-female population ratio.

According to the 2011 Census, there are 55 per cent men in comparison to 45 per cent women in Chandigarh.

Mohali’s vaccination ratio is even lower as only 39 per cent women have received the jab against 61 per cent men. Prof Rajesh Gill from the Department of Sociology, Panjab University, said, “A significant proportion of women still cannot take decisions independently and have to consult family members. Even to access healthcare services, women are the last to go to a health centre as it is their last priority.”

“The first priority is of the husband, then son and the women are always the last one. This is about the section of society who aren’t well off and educated,” she said.

“There is also a lot of rumour mongering related to vaccination, like infertility concerns. I keep talking to women who are staying in slums and they are against vaccination,” said Prof Gill.

“It is difficult to get them vaccinated because they cannot miss their work.

They think it is not worth it to stand all day to get the vaccine,” she added.

As per the National Family Health Survey-2015-16, 54 per cent of women are allowed to go alone to a market, 50 per cent to a health facility, and 48 per cent to places outside their villages or communities. Overall, only 41 per cent of women in India are allowed to go alone to all three places and six per cent are not allowed to go alone to any of the three places.

The survey also showed that 36 per cent women in Chandigarh were not allowed to go to a market, health facility or outside the community alone.

“For election voting, all kinds of arrangements are made to ferry the voters to polling booths and women are very excited. But for vaccination, women have to fend for themselves. Just like polling, we should reach out to them for vaccination,” said Prof Gill.

“We have to educate them why vaccination is important. We have to facilitate them,” she said.