"Healthcare and dignity should be fundamental human rights,” tweeted chief executive officer of the Serum Institute of India (SII) Adar Poonawalla on July 12, 2021, referring to the transgender community. The vaccine manufacturer said that he looked forward to collaborating with Laxmi Narayan Tripathi who runs Kineer Services, an organization that aims for the betterment and development of transgenders by providing equal opportunities to their community. SII, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world by volume, is on the forefront of the war against coronavirus with the manufacture of the vaccine Covishield. A three-day vaccination drive aimed at jabbing nearly 1,000 transgender community members was launched by Poonawalla and Tripathi at Poona’s Sancheti Hospital on July12, reported The Indian Express of July 14. Poonawalla posted a photo of Tripathi being vaccinated on his Twitter account.
Adar Poonawalla (above, ext l and top) with Laxmi Narayan Tripathi (seated, being jabbed)
Till June 2021 only 11.45% of the transgender population was partially vaccinated with one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, stated the Hindustan Times (HT) on July 12. "Their population as per the last census is estimated to be around 4,90,000; however, the community estimates the figure to be around 1.8 million,” said the report. The "measly vaccination numbers,” are attributed to "digital divide, vaccine hesitancy, and a general distrust in the public healthcare system, amongst other reasons,” stated HT. While many cities are launching drives to vaccinate members of the transgender community the numbers appear to be lagging, stated the daily. The community is "in dire need of vaccination because they have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome)-related infections which lead to a compromised immunity,” Amrita Sarkar of the India HIV/AIDS Alliance told HT.
Tripathi’s curriculum vitae posted on the Kineer Services website states that she was the first transgender to represent Asia-Pacific at a United Nations task meeting in 2008 and represented the region again at the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne. "She was one of several petitioners in the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment recognizing the third gender,” the site stated.