Over 1 million people inoculated in state

Jharkhand on Tuesday achieved the feat of inoculating over one million people with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to the state health department’s bulletin

Jharkhand on Tuesday achieved the feat of inoculating over one million people with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to the state health department’s bulletin. The milestone was achieved 67 days after the launching of the nationwide mass vaccination programme.

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The state recently ramped up pace of Covid-19 vaccination by organising special vaccination drives in three phases at the panchayat level this month. On Tuesday, the second phase of the two-day special vaccination drive was launched in every panchayat across the state.

As many as 122, 262 people took their first jab on Tuesday, taking the tally of total number beneficiaries to 1.07 million (1,070,204), according to the health department’s bulletin of March 23.

The state has so far inoculated 403,593 health care workers (HCW) and frontline workers (FLW), 546,026 senior citizens and 120,585 people aged between 45-59 years and having comorbidities. Out of the total HCWs and FLWs inoculated, as many as 224,934 have also taken their second dose.

Since the beginning of the first phase of the nationwide mass vaccination drive on January 16 till February 26, the state vaccinated as many as 304,194 beneficiaries, that included only HCWs and FLWs.

The vaccination exercise was kept suspended for two days on February 27 and 28 in order to prepare for the launch of the second phase, under which certain priority groups were included for inoculation.

The second phase, that was launched across the nation on March 1, targeted citizens aged 60 years and above, and those aged 45 years and above with comorbidities, besides HCWs and FLWs. According to a a rough estimate, Jharkhand has to inoculate 35 lakh people in this phase.

However, the Centre recently showed its dissatisfaction over slow pace of vaccination in Jharkhand, and asked state authorities to pull up their socks.

Following this, Jharkhand chief secretary held a review meeting with various departments and others on March 10. It was decided that the state will now vaccinate 50,000 beneficiaries daily on an average.

In order to achieve the target, the state health department decided to launch the three-phase special vaccination drive on March 20-21, March 23-24 and March 26-27 at the panchayat level.

In the first phase, as many as 263,291 beneficiaries were given their first shot.