Gurugram achieves only 41% target during three-day mega vaccination drive

This is the first time that the district has not been able to meet a state-given target during a mega vaccination drive. During the three-day mega vaccination drive, 62,254 beneficiaries were inoculated--36,233 were administered the first dose and 26,021 were administered the second dose of the vaccine

In the recently concluded mega Covid-19 vaccination drive held from October 12 to October 14, Gurugram was able to achieve only 41% of its targeted 150,000 jabs. This is the first time that the district has not been able to meet a state-given target during a mega vaccination drive.

A woman gets vaccinated during the mega vaccination drive in Gurugram on, October 11. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

During the three-day mega vaccination drive, 62,254 beneficiaries were inoculated--36,233 were administered the first dose and 26,021 were administered the second dose of the vaccine.

Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer of Gurugram district, said, “Due to the festive season, many people in the district were not willing to take the vaccine as they were fasting. Due to this, the pace of vaccination pace was slow in the district. This is the first time that Gurugram has not been able to meet its vaccination target, but we are continuously working to vaccinate as many people as possible to develop herd immunity.”

District officials also said that many residents wanted to avoid the vaccine’s side effects, such as fever, and hence they did not get vaccinated during the festive season.

So far, Gurugram has always topped the state vaccination rankings--it was the first district to have fully vaccinated its eligible population with the first dose.

The district health department had planned to inoculate at least 80% of the eligible population with both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine by Dussehra, and 85% of the eligible population with both doses by Diwali. So far, 68% of the eligible population in the district has been vaccinated with both doses. Until last week, 64.5% of the eligible population in the district had been administered both doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

Earlier this month, the Centre issued vaccination targets to all states so they could administer a total of 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses this month. India is likely to reach the milestone by October 18 or 19.

In Gurugram, over 3.37 million beneficiaries have been vaccinated so far. On Friday, vaccination did not take place at government sites across the district due to the festival of Dussehra.

On Saturday, vaccination will continue at 129 centres across the district, officials said. The first and second doses of Covishield will be administered at 122 sites and the second dose of Covaxin will be administered at five centres. Sputnik V vaccines will be administered at the Sector 31 polyclinic. A total of 57,650 slots will be available in the district on Saturday.

Meanwhile, nine new cases of Covid-19 were reported and 10 persons were said to have recovered on Friday.