Is there a workaround to dereference a list element that's the name of an undefined symbol, and iteratively assign values to the symbols in the list?

The title mostly covers what I would like to do. The image below shows in some situations it is possible dereference an element in a list using Evaluate to assign a value:

a[[0]]
   (*Symbol*)
vars = {a, b, c}
Evaluate[vars[[1]]] = 1
{a[[0]], a}
   (*{Integer, 1}*)

However, trying to do this for several items in a list with an explicit pure function map doesn’t fair as well (likely because "The expression #1 cannot be used as a part specification"):

ClearAll[a, b, c]
Evaluate[vars[[#]]] = # & /@ Range[3]
   (*Part::pkspec1: The expression #1 cannot be used as a part specification. >>*)
   (*Set::setps: {a,b,c} in the part assignment is not a symbol. >>*)
   (* ... compared to below which works ... *)
Evaluate[vars[[#]]] == # & /@ Range[3]
   (*{a == 1, b == 2, c == 3}*)

Ideally I’d like to use MapThread for this particular task, but that doesn’t appear to work either:

MapThread[Evaluate[[#1]] = #2 &, {vars, {1, 2, 3}}]
   (* Set::pkspec1: The expression #1 cannot be used as a part specification. >> *)

Any tips or workarounds on how to pull something like this off?

Thanks for any help!

(Evaluate@vars[[#]] = #) & /@ Range[3]

Clear[a, b, c]
vars = {a, b, c};
vals = {27, 16, 32};
Do[Evaluate[vars[[i]]] = vals[[i]], {i, Length @ vars}];
vars