Only 8% people in state vaccinated
Jharkhand, in last three and a half months, has vaccinated only 8% of its population with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, considered as the only way to slow down the growth of infection, according to the state health department’s bulletin released on Saturday
Jharkhand, in last three and a half months, has vaccinated only 8% of its population with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, considered as the only way to slow down the growth of infection, according to the state health department’s bulletin released on Saturday.
The state till Saturday evening vaccinated over 2.54 million citizens against its total population of 32.96 million. These beneficiaries were a part of preferred groups comprising health care workers (HCW), frontline workers (FLW) and citizens above the age of 45 years.
At a time when the state is badly hit by the second wave of the pandemic, all eyes are now set at the pace of vaccination and its coverage, that need to be amplified further to save precious lives.
Considering the importance of vaccination in the ongoing fight against the virus, the Centre recently allowed inoculation of all citizens above the age of 18 years from May 1.
The state government too responded quickly to this development and announced to provide free vaccination to all its eligible citizens.
According to an estimate of the state health department, there are around 16 million people between 18-44 years of age in Jharkhand, for which it requires 32 million doses of the vaccine.
However, health mandarins in the state are sceptical about timely availability of such a huge number of vaccine doses. This apart, they also find the current pace of vaccination coverage unsatisfactory.
A senior official of the health department said, “The department has been continuously monitoring the entire vaccination programme and issuing directions/advisories to districts to augment the pace of vaccination. Districts with low coverage have been nudged regularly. Special camps were organised at panchayat levels also to augment the coverage percentage. On Saturday, around 1,500 Covid-19 vaccination centres (CVC) were functioning across the state. The number of CVCs may be increased from May 1.”
According to sources, the state has, at present, six lakh doses of both Covishield and Covaxin. It is also planning to purchase around 50 lakh doses for the launch of mass vaccination campaign from May 1.
According to a department official, “The Serum Institute of India, Pune, that manufactures Covishield vaccine, has fixed ₹400 and ₹600 prices per dose for government and private sectors, respectively.”
Health experts feel that vaccination is the key to contain the spread of the infection. “Achieving herd immunity at the earliest is key to effectively control the disastrous pandemic. How quickly can we reach the magic herd immunity number across the country depends on a number of factors, including infectivity of the virus,” said Dr RK Jha, former professor and head, department of medicine of RIMS, Ranchi.
He added, “More the infectiousness of the virus, bigger the percentage of people to be vaccinated. For instances, herd immunity for measles is achieved by vaccinating almost 100% population because its basic reproduction number R0 ( R nought) is extremely high, 12-18 suggesting infectiousness, whereas, for whooping cough (pertussis) it’s 5-6, requiring only 70% of population to be vaccinated.
It’s quite likely that newer variants of coronavirus, that are more infectious, now require almost 100% of population to be vaccinated, Jha said.
“Vaccinating a large population swiftly requires huge manpower and other infrastructure. Health emergency should be promulgated in order to effectively use national resources. Vaccine availability, right from production to storage and distribution, should be streamlined and perfectly tuned with the help of computer applications. Media have a greater role to play in creating awareness,” he said, adding, “Wearing mask as a national dress and duty can buy time for vaccination. The state should do everything possible to ensure that people are made to use mask and maintain social distancing.”
According to the health department’s April 24 bulletin, of the total 2,548,045 beneficiaries, who received the first jab, 2,088,413 were above 45 years of age, 264,281 were FLWs and 195,351 were HCWs. A total of 414,035 beneficiaries have taken both the doses.
