Only 60% of beneficiaries show up for Covid-19 vaccination, hesitancy remains

A total of 2,881 healthcare workers in the district were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Monday, on the second day of the ongoing nationwide immunisation drive

A total of 2,881 healthcare workers in the district were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Monday, on the second day of the ongoing nationwide immunisation drive. This accounts for 60% of the health department’s targeted coverage for the day, which was set at vaccinating 4,386 healthcare workers, across public and private sectors.

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Officials said that the individuals who did not get vaccinated on Monday would be able to do so on January 21.

The majority of the day’s inoculations took place at private hospitals, where a total of 2,007 frontline healthcare staff, of 3,301 beneficiaries pencilled in for the second day, were vaccinated. “In private facilities, we have met 70% of our goal for the day. Some shortfall is to be expected as we are still in the early stages. It will take some time for people to accept the vaccine,” said Dr MP Singh, district immunisation officer, Gurugram.

Singh said that vaccinating private-sector workers proved to be easier on Monday, since individuals are being administered the vaccine at their place of work. “If you work at a private hospital, you can come to the booth, take the shot and then can carry on with your day. Most public health workers, on the other hand, are getting vaccinated at session sites that may be some distance away from their assigned duties or homes. So, they have to take the time out to go there,” said Singh.

Among public sector beneficiaries, only 874 showed up for vaccinations on Monday, against a target of 1,535 beneficiaries. “About 60% of the day’s target was met at public session sites. We will be reaching out to all those who did not come, for whatever reason, and urging them to take the vaccine later this week,” said Dr Singh.

He added that the drive would be extended to at least nine sessions sites in the district on Thursday, as they did not meet their targets. Dr Singh, however, did not comment on reasons for this.

“The state authorities will review the situation and we will implement what is decided,” said Dr Virender Yadav, Gurugram’s chief medical officer.

Although Yadav did not comment on vaccine hesitancy among ASHA workers and National Health Mission (NHM) staff, who are first in line for the shot, at least two senior health department officials directly involved in the vaccination drive said that more steps are needed to ensure public trust in the vaccines.

“On Monday, again, we had to call in people who were scheduled to take the vaccine on Thursday, to get closer to the target. In a few instances, some healthcare workers have provided incorrect contact details and we were unable to notify them. This needs to be addressed, but we have all been extremely busy with delivering the vaccines,” said one of the officials cited above, requesting anonymity.

Private facilities, too, admitted to a degree of vaccine hesitancy among their staff.

Arpita Mukherjee, vice president, operations, Max Hospital, said, “Our proactive engagement with frontline workers before the vaccination helped in achieving 60% target... Many employees did not turn up as they might be confused, not sure of early vaccination.”

A total of 195 workers were vaccinated at Max Hospital on Monday, against a target of 335 people, most of whom work in diagnostic labs.

Spokespersons for Paras and Columbia Asia hospitals in the city confirmed that 76 and 55 staffers, respectively, were vaccinated on Monday (against targets of 100 people). At Fortis Hospital, 150 out of 200 people targeted received a shot of the vaccine, marking a 75% coverage, while 300 beneficiaries were vaccinated at Medanta.

The spokesperson for Medanta did not reveal how many were targeted for vaccination on the day.