Selvi is 52 and lives with her two children in a rural area of India, where she runs a small tailoring business that she started through a small loan. With the help of our locally-led health response during India's second wave of COVID-19 in mid-2021, she was able to easily get vaccinated and get her business back on track.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Selvi was nervous about getting vaccinated, unsure of what it entailed. Two previous major surgeries added to her hesitation, as did a lack of awareness of how and where to get vaccinated, compounded by the misinformation circulating in her community.

One of Opportunity International Australia’s program partners in India invited Selvi to visit a vaccination hub they were supporting, giving her the opportunity to ask questions of on-site doctors and understand the risks and benefits of vaccination to help her make a decision. Vaccination hubs are organised at locations that are easy for people to reach by foot, and in addition to vaccinations, community members are provided free masks, gloves, and sanitisers as preventive measures.

Having made the decision to be vaccinated, Selvi says she is happy to be able to travel around her community without fear of being infected, and is comfortable interacting with customers at her business.

She is also motivated to encourage others to get vaccinated, and laughs as she reports her neighbours saying: “If she got vaccinated with two organs missing, and she’s staying healthy, then we can also get vaccinated.”

Selvi is one of 5.2 million people Opportunity has helped get vaccinated as part of our emergency COVID-19 response in India, made possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters and the tireless work of our community-led partners during India's second wave.