The Nilgiris is a hilly terrain lying in the western
ghats with around 500 tribal towns. It has a population of
7,21,949 and is home to 27,032 tribal people. Out of the 75
Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in India, six groups
reside in The Nilgiris district: Todas, Kotas, Irulas, Paniyas,
Kurumas and Kattunayakans. Though the district had a
much lower caseload during the first wave of COVID-19
compared to the state, the second wave saw four times the
caseload of the first wave, affecting the tribal populations
spread across the forests and hills of The Nilgiris. The
Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
(DPH & PM) of The Nilgiris then decided to undertake an
initiative to achieve 100% vaccine coverage for the tribal
populations on a priority basis. The decision was taken
based on close observation and prevalent knowledge of
their traditional and cultural practices. Culturally, these
populations exhibit a closely knit community behavior.
They live very close to each other, and majority of their
cultural practices involve coming together or aggregating
in groups. Hence, we believed they had increased risk for
transmission of COVID-19. Additionally, they live in
isolated pockets remote from health facilities and exhibit
poor health seeking behavior, rendering them a specifically
vulnerable group. With this rationale, we embarked on a
challenging endeavor of vaccinating the tribal populations
of The Nilgiris on priority basis during March to June 2021.