JOIN USOver 12 crore people due for 2nd Covid vaccine dose in India: Mansukh Mandaviya
Over 12 crore Indians who received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine didn’t take the second one, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said here on Thursday, asking the states to find out such individuals and inoculate them.
In a review meeting with state health ministers, Mandaviya said more than 12 crore beneficiaries who were due for their second dose, should be motivated to take the second dose to ward off the chances of serious disease.
So far 79% of India’s adult population received a single dose while 38% are fully vaccinated.
The minister suggested adopting a strategy of deploying 50-100 vaccination teams to ensure 100% coverage in a targeted area in a time bound manner besides coming out with a ranking system to felicitate the better performing teams to increase the speed of vaccination.
The door-to-door campaign would also seek to encourage people to come forward for taking the second dose.
“Unless the second dose is given within the permissible window period the vaccine’s effectiveness might not be appropriate,” Oommen John, a senior public health researcher at the George Institute for Global Health told DH.
India’s daily vaccination number dipped since the last week of October in the run up to Diwali with more than 50 lakh doses administered only once in the first week of November.
The situation has improved a bit in the last three days, but nowhere close to the record two crore plus vaccination achieved on a single day to celebrate the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The health minister also advised the states to carry out vaccination drives focussing on a particular segment of the population. “One day can be dedicated for traders, hawkers, vendors and shopkeepers while the second day can be used to mobilise rickshaw pullers and auto drivers. The third day can be dedicated to labourers and farmers”, he added.
Mandaviya also suggested using students to convince their family members above 18 years to come forward for vaccination as the government’s plan of inoculating 94.47 crore adults with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of 2021 looked extremely difficult to achieve.
“We shouldn’t think that Covid-19 is over. The cases are rising globally. In Singapore, Britain, Russia and China cases are rising again despite more than 80% vaccination. Vaccination and Covid-19 appropriate behaviour should go hand in hand”, he stressed.
Watch latest videos by DH here: