Covid-19 vaccination: Narendra Modi to hold meeting with 40 district magistrates

The November 3 virtual meeting will focus on districts where less than 50% of their population has taken the first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, and an even lower percentage has been doubly vaccinated

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual summit with 40 district magistrates across the country where the Covid-19 vaccination coverage has been sluggish so far. A number of chief ministers are also expected to attend the meeting.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends an event about global supply chains during the G20 leaders summit on Sunday. He will hold a meeting with 40 district magistrates across the country where the Covid-19 vaccination coverage has been sluggish. (AP)

“Immediately upon returning to the country after attending the… COP26 [in Glasgow, Scotland], Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a review meeting with districts having low vaccination coverage, on November 3 at noon via video conferencing,” a press statement issued the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The meeting will focus on districts where less than 50% of their population has taken the first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, and an even lower percentage has been doubly vaccinated against the disease.

Majority of the districts with low Covid-19 vaccination percentages are in Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland and a few others.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya recently held a review meeting with state health ministers, during which he announced the “Har Ghar Dastak (door-to-door campaign)” to boost vaccination numbers.

“We are going to launch the vaccination campaign: “Har Ghar Dastak”. We decided that for the next one month, healthcare workers will go from door to door to vaccinate people eligible for the second dose, and also those who have not taken the first dose,” news agency ANI quoted the minister as saying following the meeting.

He also reportedly noted that 48 districts across the country have been identified where the first-dose coverage was less than 50%.

On Sunday, the health ministry said the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered under the country’s inoculation drive stood at 106.14 crore as of 7am.

Also, 12,830 new cases of the coronavirus disease and 446 new deaths related to it were reported that day..