Covid: Doorstep vaccine drive restarted in Delhi in bid to cover all residents

Senior officials of the Delhi government’s health department said that while the city has recorded 100% coverage of the first vaccine dose, around 10-15% of the eligible population were yet to take their second dose.

To ensure full coverage of the two-set Covid-19 vaccinations before moving on to the precautionary doses, the Delhi government has restarted a door-to-door campaign to identify people who are yet to get their first and second doses and bring them under the vaccination net, senior government officials said on Friday.

Since January this year, even as Delhi has witnessed two spikes in Covid-19 infections, primarily driven by the Omicron variant and its sub-strains, the severity of infections has been mild and the need for hospital admissions has also been low. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Senior officials of the Delhi government’s health department said that while the city has recorded 100% coverage of the first vaccine dose, around 10-15% of the eligible population were yet to take their second dose.

“We have started training our Asha and Anganwadi workers, along with our teams at the district levels, so that they can pay door-to-door visits to make a list of the people who are yet to get their first and second Covid doses. We want to take into account that there would still be people who are not part of the city’s registered population list and might not have received even their first vaccine shot,” said a senior health official, asking not to be named.

Officials said the provision of at-home vaccination will be made available for senior citizens and the differently abled, and special camps will be set up near residential areas for the others. The drive will continue till June end, after which the administration will again carry out an assessment.

Currently, vaccinations are available for those above 12 years of age in the Capital. Data from the government’s CoWin dashboard shows that Delhi so far has administered 18,045,535 first doses of Covid and 15,050,327 second doses. Around 1,087,131 people in the Capital have also received their booster doses, according to government data.

Government officials said that apart from door-to-door surveys, health teams will also reach out to residents of senior citizen homes and schools, and will rope in school administrations, resident welfare associations and religious leaders to encourage people to get the Covid jab.

Since January this year, even as Delhi has witnessed two spikes in Covid-19 infections, primarily driven by the Omicron variant and its sub-strains, the severity of infections has been mild and the need for hospital admissions has also been low.

Health experts said that high infection spread in the community and good vaccine coverage, along with the generally milder nature of the prevalent Covid variant in Delhi, has kept fresh cases low.

“In June-July last year, data shows that around 76% of people in India had antibodies but less than 10% population were vaccinated. Now, around 80% population has been vaccinated and around 90% have attained their immunity via infection. People now are protected because of the antibodies they developed through infection and also by vaccination. Hybrid immunity is the best kind of protection,” said Dr GC Khilnani, chairperson, institute of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the Pushpawati Singhania Hospital and Research Institute (PSRI Hospital).

Dr Khilnani also said that after being vaccinated people achieve immunity for around six-nine months.

Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the department of community medicine at the Safdarjung Hospital, said, “The slowing down of vaccination could also be because of more people getting infected and observing the 3-4 months gap before taking their next vaccine doses.”