Paper short abstract:

The inoculation percentages of the indigenous people in North-East states of India have been very low.The paper tries to understand the different reasons and dimensions of vaccine hesitancy among the indigenous people of North-East India.

Paper long abstract:

Introduction: A total of 4.81 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in 176 identified tribal districts across 25 states till July 15, the government has informed (TOI, 2021).The New India Express, 2021 (A National daily) has reported that Covid-19 vaccination in the tribal belts of India has been an eventful exercise. In most places, there is hesitancy and numbers are low. In the same vein, the inoculation percentages of the indigenous people in North-East states of India have been very low. Nagaland has shown the lowest vaccination rate all over India with only 34% vaccinated so far, followed by Manipur with 47% only.

Aim: The paper tries to understand the different reasons and dimensions of vaccine hesitancy among the indigenous people of North-East India.

Methods: Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through virtual interviews and also by administering questionnaire through Google forms among the respondents belonging to the indigenous communities of North-East India.

Results: Majority of the respondents expressed their hesitancy to vaccination citing examples of people dying right after getting vaccinated. Few of the respondents have also said that vaccination do not guarantee complete protection from Covid-19. Many people also expressed that their faith in God can protect them through this tough time better than the vaccines.

Conclusion: Majority of the indigenous people of North-East India are still unaware about it. Therefore, there is an urgent need to address this issue to protect the people from another fatal wave of Covid-19 in the near future.