E-Paper
States told to step up vaccine drive with door-to-door campaign
There are currently 134 million beneficiaries, who have not taken their second vaccine shot even after the prescribed interval, as per the government data.
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday advised states and Union territories to scale up the national Covid-19 vaccination drive with the door-to-door vaccination campaign ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ over the next one month, especially focusing on covering those beneficiaries due for their second dose in poor performing districts.
The minister was charing a meeting with the state health ministers in Delhi.
“We’re going to launch a mega vaccination campaign ‘Har Ghar Dastak’. We have decided that for the next one month, healthcare workers will go door-to-door to vaccinate people eligible for second dose and also those who have not taken the first dose, especially focusing on the poorly performing districts...,” said Mandaviya.
There are currently 134 million beneficiaries, who have not taken their second vaccine shot even after the prescribed interval, as per the government data. As of Wednesday, 313, 767,852 people have been fully vaccinated while 407,789, 873 have taken their first Covid-19 dose, according to the HT dashboard.
“The focus of the meeting was to urge states to take effective steps to ensure no district was left without fully vaccinating its eligible beneficiaries. As much as 77% of the eligible population in India has been vaccinated against Covid-19 with first dose. And 32% of the population has received both the doses. More than 10 crores (100 million) people haven’t taken second dose of vaccine. People who are eligible for second dose should take the vaccine,” he said.
The health minister also assured the states that adequate vaccine doses were available in the country to meet the required demand, and at least 120 million balance and unutilised vaccine doses were available with the States for administering currently. “No district should be without full vaccination”, he advised the states, adding that the aim should be “to cover all eligible with first dose by end-November 2021”.
The state health ministers were asked to ensure continuous oversight on progress of the national Covid-19 vaccination programme.
“Dr Mandaviya urged the states to make regional and local level plans with all the stakeholders to reduce number of people with vaccination overdue. He also urged for innovative strategies to encourage them to achieve their targets to review the planning and execution of district-wise plans for coverage of due beneficiaries of second dose as available on Co-WIN portal,” said health ministry in a statement.
Dr GC Khilnani, former head, pulmonology department, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, said, “It is important to take both the doses for maximum protection, even if you have been infected in the past.”
Apart from the vaccination coverage, Mandaviya also discussed issues related to Covid emergency response package utilisation, and Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission.
“It was an elaborate interaction with the states to know what they have been doing for pandemic management, what is lacking and how the Centre can help in achieving their targets. Increasing vaccination coverage was also discussed as it is an important issue that needs extra attention,” said a central government official aware of the matter, on condition of anonymity.
