Centre to start door-to-door Covid vaccine campaign in June-July for booster shots among elderly

To accelerate the coverage of those vaccinated against Covid-19, the Union Health Ministry on Friday announced it will launch a two-month long door-to-door campaign in June and July. The campaign will give preference to eligible senior citizens to be inoculated with a booster dose.

Addressing a review meeting with state officials, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the new mission-mode programme would have district, block and village-level plans to vaccinate and saturate the eligible population groups with first, second and precaution dose. However, the prime focus of the campaign will be to give booster dose to the 60 plus population.

More than 11.84 crore senior citizens have been fully vaccinated; of these, 4.14 crore are eligible for a precautionary dose, only 1.69 crore have received the shot so far.

Health Ministry sources said the national average for precautionary dose among senior citizens is 41 per cent, even though the numbers are below average in 26 states. The states that are lagging are Kerala (40 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (38 per cent), Bihar (38 per cent), Tamil Nadu (37 per cent), Telangana (36 per cent), Maharashtra (33 per cent), with Nagaland being the lowest in the country at 12 per cent.

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In addition, there are 19 states and union territories where the second dose coverage among the 15-plus population is less than the national average of 86 per cent. In 23 states and UTs, even the first dose coverage among the 15-18 years age group is lower than the national average. These states include Maharashtra (65 per cent), Bihar (67 per cent), West Bengal (72 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (73 per cent),

The first dose coverage among the 12-14 years old is less than the national average in 18 states, while for the second dose it is lower in 17 states.

Keeping such factors in mind, the new campaign would focus on old-age homes, schools and colleges, prisons and brick kilns, and will also include out-of-school children.

The ministry has also asked states not to seek travel-related documents if someone is opting for the booster shot before schedule for an impending foreign trip.

The states have also been urged to undertake effective monitoring with micro-plans based on due lists of all eligible beneficiaries. The states have been told to review with the private hospitals on a regular basis the administration of precaution dose to those in the age group of 18-59 years.

In the review meeting, the states were reminded about their stock of unused, near-expiry vaccine doses, and advised them not to waste them as they were “precious national resources”.

There should be no wastage of Covid-19 vaccines at any cost, Bhushan said. This must be ensured through active monitoring and on the basis of “First Expiry, First Out” principle, where doses that expire earlier should be used for vaccination first. The states have also been told to first use the unused doses in May, June and July.