At 55%, Sunday sees lowest turnout for Covid-19 vaccination drive

Of 1,200 private sector healthcare workers, targeted for the Covid-19 vaccination drive on Sunday, only 660 were inoculated at the 26 sessions sites in the district

Of 1,200 private sector healthcare workers, targeted for the Covid-19 vaccination drive on Sunday, only 660 were inoculated at the 26 sessions sites in the district. This indicates coverage of 55%, the lowest since the vaccine roll-out began on January 16.

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Health department officials said they are confident of a more successful drive on Monday, with 6,000 public and private sector workers slated to receive the vaccine jab at more than 101 session sites across the district.

Sunday’s vaccine coverage is down from 58% the previous day, when 3,055 out of 5,230 targeted inoculations were achieved, and the average vaccination rate of around 77% in the district so far.

Officials did not directly discuss reasons for the diminishing turnout, but said that steps to emphasize vaccine safety and efficacy are being discussed. “We are planning more outreach exercises so that public trust in the vaccine can be maintained. There will be a statewide awareness drive about the same on Monday. I have not directly received any queries or concerns from healthcare workers about the vaccine, so I cannot comment on whether there is hesitancy among people,” said Dr MP Singh, district immunisation officer, Gurugram.

However, a medical officer overseeing Covid-19 vaccinations at a session site in Sector 56, said, “Vaccine hesitancy is certainly a problem. I have had to personally reach out to many workers who come under my healthcare centre and answer their questions, about the vaccine itself as well as the differences between Covishield and Covaxin. There are some genuine concerns after the news of a healthcare worker dying after immunisation.”

A 56-year-old health worker at Bhangrola primary health centre, who had received a Covid-19 vaccine shot on January 16, died due to cardiac arrest last Friday. The district health department officials said that preliminary findings showed that the death might be unrelated to vaccination as the woman had shown no adverse reaction to the vaccine in the last five days. A final report is awaited in the matter.