Equal healthcare: Citizens' group starts drive to vaccinate transgender community in Pune

Pune, July 13: A group of citizens from Pune, which is helping people from underprivileged has now extended its reach to the transgender community in Maharashtra.

As part of the initiative, 169 transgenders were vaccinated at a private hospital here on Monday.

The volunteers' group has set up an exclusive vaccination centre at the Sancheti Hospital here for the transgender community from July 12 to 15.

An outreach programme is in place to spread awareness among the transgender community members and ensure most of them get vaccinated via this camp, the group said in a statement.

"Rapid vaccination is the only hope to control COVID-19, and we as citizens decided to support the wonderful work already being done by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the government," VaxAll Initiative founder Raj Hajela said.

He said their mission is to ensure "vaccination for all".

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla posted a picture (on Twitter) of Laxmi Narayan Tripathi taking the vaccine. He said that he believed that healthcare should be a fundamental human right.

"I have always believed that healthcare should be included as a fundamental human right. I look forward to collaborating with Laxmi Narayan Tripathi (Transgender Activist) to create equal opportunities for the transgender community in India," Poonawalla tweeted.