Situated to the northeast of the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh, Malana is a small, remote village nestled in the Himalayas. It is located in the Jari block of Kullu district and stands separated from the rest of the region by the Malana river, also called the Malana nala. To reach Malana village, one has to travel on a mountain road up to a gate which says, “Way to Malana village.” The car drops you at that point. From there, one has walk downhill to the river, cross a bridge, and then hike up to the village on the other side of the valley.
In May 2021, I came across a news report that villagers of Malana were resisting vaccination against COVID-19, citing a diktat from their local deity. There were no COVID-19 cases in the village. I decided to travel to Malana. I wanted to explore how vaccination was unfolding in Malana, and to document the efforts of healthcare officials in carrying out the process in this remote village. The difficulty of such projects in mountains and remote regions of India often goes unnoticed.
Fear and faith
The attempt to inoculate Himachal’s Malana village amid vaccine hesitancy
Vials prepared for routine immunisation of the children of Malana lie at the community health center in Jari, on 28 May. The medical team administered the children’s standard vaccinations on the same day as the COVID-19 vaccination because travelling to Malana with the medical kits is a challenge in the remote, mountainous region.
On 28 May, before they headed to Malana, the medical team labelled the vials of COVID-19 vaccines at the community health center in Jari so that they do not get mixed up with the vials of routine immunisation of children.
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