Covid 19 brought in its wake a whole new gamut of experiences for most people as it was for the first time that they were experiencing a pandemic. When the vaccines were rolled out, nations heaved a collective sigh of relief, but at the same time, the governments had to tackle situations where people refused to get themselves vaccinated out of plain fear or superstitious beliefs. India was no exception. In such a scenario, an IAS officer in the hilly state of Uttarakhand found an innovative idea to attract people towards vaccination.
District Magistrate and CEO of Dehradun Smart City Ltd, Dr. R Rajesh Kumar, started a lottery system in the capital where people had a chance to avail amazing prizes for taking the second jab of Covid 19 vaccination. The initiative called ‘Vaccination Mela’ was organized between October 18 and November 2, in coordination with the state health department and the Smart City Project Ltd.
TAKING CUE FROM USA
In an exclusive interview to Indian Masterminds, Dr. Rajesh Kumar said that the idea came to his mind after noticing that the United States and some other nations were following an innovative way of getting people vaccinated. “They follow a lottery system wherein people who were getting vaccinated during that period were eligible to participate in a lottery. This was being followed in some states of the USA and recently a person who came first in the lottery won an amazing prize worth one million dollars. This state-sponsored initiative attracted me a lot and I thought of encouraging the people of Doon by implementing a similar idea.”
He revealed that there was yet another reason for this initiative. He felt that people were becoming a little complacent towards taking the second dose of vaccine. “We had already achieved 100 percent of the first dose, but a little slackness was seen from the people’s end towards the second jab. Also, the festival season which starts on Dussehra and goes on till Diwali, was around the corner and rumours regarding the third wave were doing the rounds. Therefore, by pooling in resources from the CSR fund, we started this initiative for a period of 16 days,” he said.
Before this initiative kicked off, there were more than three lakh people in Dehradun who were due for their second dose and, as the number was feasible, the administration tried to target the population at the right time.
VACCINATION MELA A HIT
There were three lucky draws consisting of prizes like electric scooty, LED TV with sound system and double-door refrigerator, in addition to the consolation prizes such as smartphone, tablet, microwave, kitchen appliances, food processor, oven, induction, tracksuit, shoes, etc. The first prize and second prizes were announced in the later part of October while the mega award was given out in the beginning of November.
The prizes were awarded through a very transparent process in which the lots were opened in the collectorate by the media people. People who got vaccinated in any of the 220 vaccination centres in Dehradun during this period were given a counterfoil and the coupon was kept by the administration.
Dr. Rajesh Kumar said, “The response of people participating in this initiative was tremendous. Before this initiative started, on an average, around 2,000 people used to get vaccinated every day in Dehradun. And this number jumped to 7,000 as soon as the initiative started. During these 16 days, around 81,000 people got vaccinated.”
No doubt the lottery initiative of Dr. Kumar to attract people towards Covid 19 vaccination worked well, as a large number of people showed up at the vaccination centres to take their second jabs.
