A government doctor in Kerala has come under criticism on social media for taking a Polio vaccination awareness class for women from behind a veil.
According to local media reports, nearly 100 women participated in the thinly veiled awareness drive conducted by a medical superintendent of the government hospital at Nileswaram in Kasargode district in North Kerala.
The area has a high proportion of Muslims, which may have prompted the organizers to hang a curtain between the stage and the audience.
Given that curtains are lifted before most stage programs in Kerala, Sunday’s event has aroused curiosity, and in some cases protests, among the population.
Awareness camps are being conducted to dispel notions that vaccines are against God. Many devout people in India believe that vaccines interfere with the system that God created, and must be rejected.
Despite strong pressure from local administration, many religious people in Kerala — including those subscribing to strict versions of Christianity — refuse to allow health workers to give vaccines to their children.