Bihar launches mega survey to persuade people to take Covid jabs

At least 35% of the state’s 73.44 million eligible adult population is yet to take their first shot. Another 70% of those having taken their first shot are yet to take their second dose of the vaccine, as per vaccination figures available with the state health department till Saturday.

Bihar on Monday launched an intensive three-day door-to-door mega survey of households, based on voter list of ongoing panchayat elections in the state, to trace and persuade the eligible adult population reluctant to take either their first or second jab of the Covid-19 vaccine, said officials of the state health department.

A health worker administers a dose of Covid-19 vaccine to a beneficiary at SKM Hall in Patna. (PTI)

At least 35% of the state’s 73.44 million eligible adult population is yet to take their first shot. Another 70% of those having taken their first shot are yet to take their second dose of the vaccine, as per vaccination figures available with the state health department till Saturday.

The state’s second dose vaccination coverage is 14,315,747 against 47,296,959 first dose achievements, as per the CoWIN portal, before vaccination began on Monday.

The state health department has roped in anganwadi sevikas and accredited social health activists (ASHA) for the mega survey while going into overdrive to achieve 100% vaccination of its target population.

The department has armed the surveyors with ward-wise voter lists of the ongoing panchayat elections. It has asked them to visit door-to-door and tally the name in the voter list with those residing in a particular household to ascertain how many were either unvaccinated or had not taken their second jab, despite being eligible for it. The interval between the two doses of Covaxin is 28 days and 84 days for Covishield.

The surveyors have to mark ‘1’ on the questionnaire provided to them for those having taken the first dose and ‘2’ for those fully vaccinated with both doses of the Covid vaccine.

They have to specify the reason on the form for those yet to take their first shot. Those absent had to be marked ‘XA’. Adults having shifted from the village had to be marked ‘XS’; ‘XD’ in event of death; ‘XR’ for refusal; and ‘OK’ for those convinced to take the jabs, said officials.

Earlier, during the pulse polio round in the state between September 26 and October 1, the polio drop administrators were told to mark out all such households where adults had not taken either their first or second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, despite being due.

The ASHA and anganwadi sevikas will now visit all such households and convince the residents to take the Covid jab, said officials.

“We are fast approaching first dose saturation, as a result of which the eligible population of vaccination is coming down. It is now important for us to reach out to the unvaccinated or those reluctant to take the jab for some reason. We need to understand their point of view and convince them that the Covid vaccine is absolutely safe,” said Sanjay Kumar Singh, executive director State Health Society, Bihar.

“We also need to improve our second dose coverage (which is 30% of the first dose achievement). We had initially asked our polio teams to mark out households where any adult family member was deprived of either the first or second dose of Covid vaccination. With voter list of the panchayat elections, our ASHAs and anganwadi sevikas will now reach out to all such households and motivate the left-out adult population to take the jab,” he added.

The information thus fetched will be analysed and used in micro-planning to set up Covid vaccination camps as close as possible to all such households, said Singh.

Bihar had utilised the Dussehra festival to inoculate 17% of the 854,979 beneficiaries vaccinated in the state between October 11 and 15, at special Covid vaccination centres, set up at major puja pandals.

Apart from Monday, it will hold two more mega vaccination camps on October 28 and November 7 before the four-day Chhath festival begins on November 8.

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