Complete first dose of vaccination by November end: Centre

The Centre on Wednesday asked states to target covering all eligible beneficiaries with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of November.

Addressing the national review meeting on the Covid-19 situation, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya asked state health ministers to start a ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ (knock on every home) campaign to motivate people for vaccination in districts with poor coverage.

Health Ministers of 13 states including T S Singhdeo (Chhattisgarh), Subhash Garg (Rajasthan), Jai Pratap Singh (Uttar Pradesh) and M A Subramanian (Tamil Nadu) attended the meeting held at Vigyan Bhawan.

“No district should be without full vaccination. Let us aim to cover all eligible with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by end of November 2021,” Mandaviya said at the meeting. The government had told the Supreme Court that it aimed to complete vaccination of all adults by December 31.

Though India has administered more than 104 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines, the December 31 deadline to cover nearly 94 crore adults with both doses of vaccines is a tough task.

A WhatsApp group with state health ministers to facilitate real-time interaction with the Union Health Minister has been created. Mandaviya urged the states to make regional and local level plans with all the stakeholders to reduce the number of people overdue for vaccination.

As on Wednesday, nearly 11 crore beneficiaries who are due for their second dose of Covid-19 vaccines had not turned up to get the jab.

Mandaviya also urged the states to draw up innovative strategies to review the planning and execution of district-wise plans for coverage of due beneficiaries of a second dose as available on Co-WIN portal.

He also briefed the state ministers on the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission and urged them to draw up strategies for timely implementation of the initiative.

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