: Amid concerns over the surge in Covid-19 cases in Punjab, the state has till now been able to administer the precautionary third dose only to a nearly 12% of the total eligible persons, mainly due to the growing lax attitude of people towards the virulent disease.
Till date, the state could administer a mere 10, 38,929 precautionary doses, which are nearly 12% percent of the total eligible persons due for the third dose, meant for the beneficiaries above the age of 18.
As per data available with the Punjab health department, around 2.27 crore beneficiaries above the age of 18 are eligible for the doses and as precautionary dose is given after a minimum six-month gap from the second booster dose, till date, the health officials claim that around 80 lakh beneficiaries are eligible for the precautionary dose.
Low response for the precautionary dose has become a cause of concern when the state is witnessing a surge in the cases, the daily count of which has doubled in the past ten days.
The daily addition of Covid-19 cases which were 212 on July 18 has increased to 576 on July 28.
{{/usCountry}}The daily addition of Covid-19 cases which were 212 on July 18 has increased to 576 on July 28.
{{/usCountry}}The state has registered a rise in daily positivity rate that has jumped from around 3% to 4.19% during the period in these ten days.
State’s nodal officer for Covid-19, Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, said that one of the reasons for the low response to the precautionary dose was that people have been behaving as if Covid-19 never existed.
“Now, the department has planned to exhort people to administer the third dose. Special campaigns are being started to give a push to increase the numbers,” said the officer.
What has worried the health department, is the outcome that even after the announcement of the Union government to administer the precautionary dose free of cost from July 15, the response has not been enthusiastic.
“After July 15, the daily count of precautionary doses has increased from around 2,500 per day to around 20,000 per day but that is not enough as we were expecting it to be minimum 40,000 per day keeping in view the beneficiaries due for the third dose till date,” Bhaskar said.
Meanwhile, the figures of the health department reveal that after April 1, the state’s mortality rate has decreased with 66 deaths registered till date out of total 12,004 positive cases witnessed during the last 10 days at the rate of 0.5%.