In pictures: Health workers vaccinate Kashmir nomads

Kashmiri shepherdess Najma Begum (left) reacts as she receives the Covishield vaccine from Masrat Farid, a healthcare worker, in Gagangeer, northeast of Srinagar. Masrat has trekked long distances through remote Himalayan meadows in Kashmir to vaccinate nomadic herders in a campaign launched in June.

Masrat's challenge isn't the treacherous terrain, she says, but persuading people to get inoculated against the coronavirus. | Above: Masrat (centre) successfully convinces Kulsuma Banoo to take the COVID-19 vaccine in Gagangeer.

"Everywhere we go it seems rumors reach earlier than we do, and it makes our job difficult," Farid (right) said during a recent vaccination campaign in a high altitude meadow. She said most people are hesitant to get vaccinated because of the rumors.

And the rumors are plentiful. Fueled by misinformation and mistrust, many residents, particularly in remote areas, believe that the vaccines cause impotence, serious side effects and could even kill. Some simply say they don't need the shots because they're immune to the coronavirus.

Still, Kashmir has done better than the rest of India. Scores of health workers like Farid have fully vaccinated over 9% of the eligible people among the region's 14 million population, compared to less than 5% for India's nearly 1.4 billion people. Almost 53% in Kashmir have had a first shot.

Dr. Tajamul-Hussain Khan, chief medical officer unsuccessfully tries to convince a Kashmiri nomad woman sitting on horse back who refused to let her 30 year old son to be vaccinated during a COVID-19 vaccination drive in Tosamaidan.

A health worker administers the Covishield vaccine to shepherdess Mukhti Khan as her husband Satar Khan registers his name during a vaccination drive in Tosamaidan, southwest of Srinagar.

Kashmiri nomads listen to Dr. Sayeed Idrees during a COVID-19 vaccination drive in Tosamaidan, southwest of Srinagar.

Nazir Ahmed, a healthcare worker, holds the case containing the Covishield vaccines as he along with his teammate Ghulam Mohammad sit inside an ambulance as they prepare to leave for vaccination drive in Khag, southwest of Srinagar.

Team of doctors and healthcare workers in ambulance and vehicles drive during a vaccination drive in Tosamaidan.

Healthcare workers administer a dose of Covishield vaccine to Basheera Banoo, a Kashmiri shepherd woman, during a COVID-19 vaccination drive in the forest area of Gund, northeast of Srinagar.

Healthcare workers Masrat Farid and her colleagues cross a stream near river Sind to reach villages on the upper reaches during a COVID-19 vaccination drive in Gagangeer, northeast of Srinagar.

A Kashmiri shepherd woman watches villagers being vaccinated as she stands outside her hut during a COVID-19 vaccination drive in Tosamaidan.