Gurgaon residents organise myth-busting sessions and vaccine drives for helps, staff

Earlier this month, Gurgaon Sector 34 resident Alka Sirohi faced a dilemma. Her residential society was planning to make COVID vaccination mandatory for every resident and staff, but her two domestic helps were refusing to take the jab. She recounts, “Both of them had such grave misconceptions about the COVID vaccine and feared that it would hurt or even kill them. They were obdurate. I had to get our RWA secretary to counsel them and somehow convince them.” The scenario isn’t a one-off. Many domestic helps, guards and other staff members in residential societies are hesitant about getting the jab due to the myths and misconceptions about the vaccines floating around. To address this, many resident welfare associations (RWAs) across the Millennium City have been setting up counselling and myth-busting sessions around vaccines. Some have even taken the implementation in their own hands, organising vaccination camps and financing the jab for those unable to afford it.
Residents pitch in with financial help to get vaccine
In many places, residents and RWA officials found that the myths and misconceptions were compounded by financial woes and inability to find slots. There, societies set up vaccination camps within the premises to address that issue.
Madhukar Kapur, RWA President of The Verandas in Sector 54, says, “For most, the horrors of the second wave were enough to convince them of the need for vaccinating. But still, there were many who were swayed by hearsay and gossip about the entire process. Many lacked the technical know-how to book slots online. Some had financial concerns too. So, we made sure they could get vaccinated at camps set up within the society for residents and staff alike and residents pitched in financially for those who couldn’t afford it.”

In several societies, apart from the RWAs, individual residents have also taken it upon themselves to make sure their domestic helps get the jab as soon as possible. Prakhyaat Sharma, a resident of Central Park Resorts in Sector 48, tells us, “The residents have created a special section for vaccination and counselling of domestic helps working in the society. Many have taken individual initiatives to get their house helps vaccinated. I booked a slot for my two helps and had to guide and navigate them through it, also clarifying their doubts and misconceptions about it.”
Others say they had to take a sterner approach. Natasha Singh, a resident of Nirvana Country, says, “My house helps refused to get vaccinated saying that they heard the side-effects are fatal. The two have been working at my house for years and are like family so I tried to counsel them. When that failed, I told them that not getting vaccinated could lead to loss of livelihood as in the months to come most people would prefer vaccinated staff. That eventually convinced them.”

Vaccination drive being conducted at The Verandas in Gurgaon

Counselling sessions to get rid of misconceptions
Many RWAs have roped in medical professionals living in the society to conduct awareness camps and counselling sessions for those with doubts and hesitation about vaccines, chiefly for the domestic helps working in the society.
Rear Admiral (Retd) Kapil Gupta, the President of the RWA at Escape Apartments in Nirvana Country, says, “We had a goal that everyone within the society should be vaccinated roughly by the end of July. But we realised that the biggest hindrance in achieving that was the misconceptions a lot of our staff had regarding vaccination. It stemmed from lack of awareness and to counter that, we held counselling sessions for them, where we had residents and medical experts speak to them about why the vaccine is safe and good.”
Medical professional Dr Rinkesh Bansal conducted one such awareness camp at Escape Apartments in Sector 50 earlier this month. “Many people claimed that they read on WhatsApp that vaccination causes impotency or that it is some form of clandestine sterilisation. Others were worried about the side-effects being fatal. There was very little awareness. I found one domestic help who had been vaccinated and had her as my mediator during the session. She conveyed my expertise to them in their vernacular, which helped me convince them about the safety and necessity of vaccination,” he tells us.
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