At 13,113 doses, Gautam Budh Nagar falls short of mega vaccination drive target

Gautam Budh Nagar had a target of inoculating 24,000 beneficiaries during the mega Covid-19 vaccination drive held on Thursday, said officials

Gautam Budh Nagar inoculated 13,113 people against its target of 24,000 beneficiaries during the mega Covid-19 vaccination drive held on Thursday, said officials. More than 5,000 beneficiaries got their first dose, and 8,006 received their second dose on Thursday.

More than 5,000 beneficiaries got their first dose, and 8,006 received their second dose on Thursday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT)

The vaccination drive was carried out at government Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) -- with 44 in Bisrakh block, 12 in Dankaur block, 14 in Jewar block, and 13 in Dadri block.

According to the CoWIN portal, so far, the district has administered 2,918,466 doses -- 1,842,652 first doses and 1,075,814 second doses. Officials, meanwhile, said that the district has achieved 120% coverage of the first dose of Covid vaccines.

“According to the official estimates, Gautam Budh Nagar has a population of 15.89 lakh, and we have already administered the first dose to 18.42 lakh people, which is 120% of our target. In addition, there is still a floating population in the district which has been turning up to get the first dose,” said Dr Neeraj Tyagi, district immunisation officer.

He, however, did not comment on the district falling short of meeting its target on Thursday.

“The health department conducted a door-to-door surveillance in the district from September 7 to 16, in which 56,489 people above the age of 45 years were yet to take the jab. Since then, over 40,000 of the beneficiaries have been vaccinated, but still, nearly 10,000 to 15,000 people -- above the age of 60 years -- are yet to get the first dose. The health department’s Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers have also been tasked to administer vaccines to these people,” Dr Tyagi added.

Official data shows that 2,075,645 people in the 18-44 age group, 558,231 people in the 45-60 age group, and 284,590 people above the age of 60 years have been vaccinated so far.

“Nearly 70% of the total beneficiaries come to get their second dose, and the remaining for the first dose. Though the number of beneficiaries for the second dose has increased in the past two months, beneficiaries wanting to get their first dose have remained almost consistent -- just with a slight decline,” said Dr Yatendra Singh, medical superintendent, Bhangel CHC.