A section of the transgender community has not taken the covid vaccine due to fear and superstition

” So far no vaccine has been discovered for our transgenders. That’s why I don’t vaccinate yet out of fear. If I have a major illness! If I die !” The words were spoken by a “Moushumi” of the third gender. Although they are known as third-gender people in our country, they feel comfortable addressing themselves as Hijra (Transe gender). A section of the transgender community in the country is still deprived of the covid vaccine. One of his main reasons was that they did not take the vaccine themselves out of fear. Today is the second episode, about some third genders who are deprived of Covid vaccine. – Writer Farhana Nila.

“I am not educated. I know covid vaccine has been tested on men & women. But has not been tested on transgender people. My hormones are not the same as those of a normal person. That’s why I’m afraid & I haven’t been vaccinated yet.”

Have you taken the doctor’s advice? In response to such a question, Mowshumi said, “No, No, if I go to the doctor and he gives me an injection! For this fear, I don’t go to the doctor..”

Hijra Shamim said, “I fear injections. And I heard that this vaccine is very powerful. Many of the transgender committees said that The vaccine has been tested on men and women in America. But they didn’t get the chance
To give this vaccine trial to transgender people.No transgender in America has agreed to give this vaccine trial. So this vaccine will be tested on us to see if the vaccine is effective or not! The vaccine may not be effective on our transgender population. If not effective I may die. For this reason, I still do not give the vaccine.”

In this regard, health expert  Dr. M A  Aziz said, “It is not important whether the vaccine is trialed in males or females. The important thing is that the vaccine has been tested on humans, and the vaccine has been declared effective worldwide. Third genders in our country are accepting misconceptions and believe in superstitions. This third-gender population of our country was initially hindered due to various regulations, but later they also came under the vaccine. And those who are left, have to be brought under the vaccine through counseling. It must be understood that the vaccine is safe for all types of people around the world.”

Kuril Hijra Committee Chief Shobha Sarkar. She said, “Many of us change our gender through surgery. Then we have to consume a lot of medicine for surgery. Many medicines are administered by injection. In that case, how safe the vaccine will be for us is the cause of many fears. And when we went to the vaccination center to get the vaccine, the nurse there said, the vaccine has not been discovered for you yet. So many transgenders have lost interest in taking the vaccine.

According to the health expert  Dr. M A  Aziz, “Vaccines are safe for everyone. There is not much difference in the hormones of the human body that these third-gender populations cannot receive the vaccine. If it was a risk, it would not have been accepted around the world.”

Md. Moshiur Rahman, senior project manager of Bandhu Social Welfare Society, said, “Most of the people of the third gender are deprived of education. So such misconceptions may come into them. But we should counsel them. They don’t even know how to read online information on mobile. They need to understand the importance of vaccines. Bandhu Social Welfare has done a lot of work in this regard, but it is not possible for us alone to make everything positive. The government should also take the initiative.

But those who are going to do counseling or to directly support the third gender to explain the importance of vaccines, have also faced various obstacles. What kind of hurdles the volunteers faced? Will be known in the third part of this story.

Farhana Nila working as a Senior Reporter at News Now Bangla. Recently she won the “Internews Let’s Talk Vaccine Asia Fellowship”. The story is published under the project of this fellowship.