A few days ago, the people of the transgender community living in Srinagar were vaccinated at a special camp that was organized by the district administration in collaboration with the health department. Such an initiative was indeed needed and should have been taken months ago for the benefit of the individuals living in the transgender community.
It is a community that has taken a giant hit due to the pandemic and more so, they were also affected during the lockdown that was imposed in August 2019. As of now, if we look deeper, the individuals of this community are literally on the verge of starvation—and if more insider accounts are to be believed, the majority of the transgenders are already suffering due to the lack of resources.
In such a terrible situation, the administration coming out to vaccinate them has come as a great relief to them as they were not visiting the normal vaccination centres, neither were they able to get it done from the private hospitals where they have to pay for it.
There have been instances where the people from the transgender community were forced to come out and openly seek help from people as they have been alleging that the neighbours in their areas are not helpful and have rarely offered a helping hand to them.
Keeping these hardships in view, while we commend the district administration for setting up a special vaccination camp for them, there is a need for going the extra mile and offering them some more help. A larger initiative from the Government for their betterment would be welcomed.
