E-Paper
2.2 lakh people skipped Covid vaccine’s second dose in Mohali
Mohali civil surgeon Dr Adarsh Pal Kaur said a total of 10,01,792 people had been vaccinated in the district till date and among them, 6,05,326 had received both doses
Even as Panchkula has achieved 100% double-dose vaccination coverage, over 2.2 lakh people in Mohali have skipped Covid vaccine’s second dose after the due date.
According to Mohali civil surgeon Dr Adarsh Pal Kaur a total of 10,01,792 people had been vaccinated in the district till date and among them, 6,05,326 had received both doses.
But 2,20,964 people had not turned up for the second dose even after the due date, rendering the first dose ineffective, as both doses were required for better immunity against the virus. The number of eligible adult beneficiaries in the district is 7,43,811, but several people from other districts and states have also been immunised in Mohali.
97,967 adults in Chandigarh have also delayed second shot
In Chandigarh as well, 97,967 adults have not turned up for the second jab. This includes residents of Chandigarh and other states who got the first shot in the city’s vaccination centres.
Chandigarh’s target is to immunise around 8.4 lakh eligible people. The city’s first-dose coverage stands at 126% with 10,65,940 people, including people from other states, having been vaccinated, and 8,35,524 (99.11%) are fully vaccinated.
Due to people missing the second dose, UT has already missed its target of fully vaccinating its entire eligible population by December 31, 2021.
To achieve the goal, the UT health department has been contacting the eligible people from a special call centre set up at the Chandigarh Housing Board office in Sector 9.
“In the past two days, the teams have made telephone calls to over 20,000 people with overdue vaccination. The common answers given by people are that they were busy, had forgotten or that they do not remember the date of first dose. But these are all excuses, despite health department’s best efforts to vaccinate the entire eligible population. Health teams are even visiting their addresses to vaccinate them,” said UT health secretary, Yashpal Garg.
He appealed to all eligible people to end the vaccination hesitancy and come forward to get jabbed at the earliest for better protection against the virus.
