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Mandaviya to meet health ministers of states over Covid vaccine administration
The Centre wants to accelerate the inoculation drive as it has planned to vaccinate all the eligible population by the end of the year.
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya will hold a meeting with health ministers of states and union territories on Wednesday over ramping up of Covid-19 vaccination drive in the nation, according to news agency ANI. He will also discuss with the health ministers about PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission and the delay in administering second dose of the Covid-19 vaccines.
The Centre on Tuesday urged the states and union territories to focus on beneficiaries who are waiting for their second dose of Covid-19 vaccine after their interval period gets over. The states and union territories have been urged to improve the momentum of vaccination and accelerate its coverage as the nation moves forward to vaccinate the eligible population by end of the year.
India has covered 76 per cent of the eligible population for the first dose. "So far, 71.24 crore first doses, covering 76 per cent of the eligible population, and 30.06 crore second doses, covering 32 per cent of the eligible population, have been administered the Covid vaccines," according to a statement from the health ministry.
The Centre wants to accelerate the inoculation drive as it has planned to vaccinate all the eligible population by the end of the year. India’s cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 1.02 billion on Tuesday with over 6.475 million doses being administered in the last 24 hours.
According to the health ministry, more than 1.07 billion vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through the government's free-of-cost channel and through direct state procurement category. "More than 12.37 crore (123.7 million) balance and unutilized Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered," the ministry said.
Meanwhile, India continues to show declining trends on daily Covid-19 caseload trajectory. The nation on Tuesday reported 12,428 fresh Covid-19 cases which was the lowest in last 238 days. The active caseload is currently at 1,63,816, the lowest in 241 days. At present, active cases constitute 0.48 per cent of the nation's total positive cases which are at their lowest since March 2020.
