Religious and faith-based leaders across Meghalaya have agreed to play a key role in battling vaccine hesitancy and spread of mis-information against the COVID-19 pandemic. This has come in the aftermath of an interactive zoom session that was held on July 08, 2021 convened by the office of the Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department. The session witnessed participation from over 150 leaders of various religious organizations from across the State. Religious leaders and faith-based communities have been playing an important role in sensitizing masses about the COVID-19 virus and the importance and rationale behind COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. And now, as intensive vaccination drives continue, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation, among other factors, have emerged as huge deterrents to preventative care against COVID-19. And with an aim to tackle this, the State Administration organized a one-to-one online interactive session with the religious and faith-based leaders on Thursday. The session witnessed participation from more than 150 prominent religious & faith-based leaders including Bishop Jose from Tura, Pastor Ruddy Kharkongor, Fr. James Anderson Syiemlieh, Pastor Stephan Pradhan from Ri Bhoi, Rev. HCT Sumer from Jowai, President of ABDK, Tura, Fr. Richard Majaw, Kong Angela Ingty, Rev. S.R Dkhar, KJP Assembly, Pastor Nicky Sangma, Rev. Shanlang Warjri, Rev. Aminot Sohliya and Rev. K. Dkhar from Jowai and Mr. Naba Bhattacharjee, President of the Central Puja Committee, Shillong and Mr. Noor Nongrum from Shillong Muslim Union also participated. The session also saw participation from prominent community leaders including Mr. R.M Blah, General Secretary, Federation of Traditional Village Leaders of Khasi & Jaintia Hills, among others. The session was convened by Mr. Sampath Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Health in the presence of Deputy Commissioners from several districts and other officials from DHS, NHM-
Meghalaya and WHO.
The session began with a brief round of interaction and a quick online survey to assess the role of faith-based leaders in fulfilling a shared purpose to battle the pandemic. 70 per cent of faith-based leaders said that they were already taking actions while 30 per cent responded that they were willing to take actions but just did not know how to systematically go about doing the needful. Majority of the religious leaders agreed that religion gives a sense of purpose and meaning during hard times. They also agreed that religion helps to mobilise people and act collectively, and make right moral decisions. “A harmony of faith, science and tradition is crucial to battle the pandemic situation”, said Naba Bhattacharjee. “It is also crucial to counter false information that has been circulating on social media. People should realise that getting vaccinated is the only solution available as of now to prevent ourselves and our loved ones from getting infected with the COVID-19 virus”.