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Amid vaccine hesitancy, Chandigarh likely to miss December target
Chandigarh is likely to miss its target of vaccinating 100 percent of the eligible population with both doses till December 31 as people continue to show hesitancy in getting Covid vaccine
The UT is likely to miss its target of vaccinating 100 percent of the eligible population with both doses of vaccines till December 31 as people continue to show hesitancy in getting Covid jab.
According to the latest electoral list and the Central government’s set target, around 8.43 lakh people are to be immunised in Chandigarh. As on Thursday, 9,61,737 (114%) people, including migrants, have taken their first shot in Chandigarh, while 7,03,492 (83%) are fully vaccinated.
However, around 1.48 lakh people, who have taken their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines from healthcare facilities in Chandigarh, are not turning up to take their second jab even after the completion of recommended vaccine time gap. The overdue number was as high as 1.87 lakh in the initial days of December.
Besides, 40,000 people in Chandigarh are also due for the second dose but they have not completed the 16-week time gap yet.
The vaccination drive in Chandigarh is gradually slowing down with the weekly vaccination average dipping. Only 3,026 people on an average were vaccinated with the first and second dose daily for the past one week. On Thursday, 3,742 doses were administered to people.
“The UT health department could have achieved the target of fully vaccinating all eligible people till December-end if people would have not missed their vaccination dates. If 1.48 lakh people had taken their second dose on time, we would have already achieved the target,” said Yashpal Garg, UT health secretary, adding that the administration would soon take a call on putting restrictions on those people who are missing their second dose.
This comes a day after Haryana announced that eligible people, who are not fully vaccinated, will not be permitted inside crowded places like malls, cinema halls and restaurants in Haryana from January 1.
Garg added, “To motivate people, the UT health department is organising door-to-door vaccination drives, asking government officials to complete the vaccination, organising special camps at public places and fun activities like lucky draw. Even then, people are not coming forward to take the second dose, which is only for their own benefit. The first dose of vaccine helps in building antibodies, but without a booster dose, the antibodies are insufficient to fight the virus, especially with more deadly variants like Omicron that is spreading fast.”
‘Tracing such people difficult’
Dr Suman Singh, director, health services, Chandigarh, said, “The UT health department is trying to trace 1.48 people with overdue second dose. But, the contact numbers and addresses of over 50% of them are not accurate. People do not even share correct personal details which are now affecting our vaccination drive. Hence, the only option is door-to-door drive, which we are already conducting. This campaign is helping in vaccinating people as a number of overdue cases has come down after this initiative.”
