Bolstering fight against Covid-19: Modi government plans door-to-door vaccination campaign
The Modi government is planning to start a door-to-door vaccination campaign against Covid-19. The month-long campaign will likely begin on November 2. According to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, 'Har Ghar Dastak' campaign will be launched in poor performing districts to enthuse and motivate people towards full vaccination against the deadly infection.
"No district should be without full vaccination," he said during a national review meeting with Health Ministers of various states and Union territories (UTs) earlier this week.
Around 48 districts have been identified where the first dose coverage among eligible beneficiaries is less than 50 per cent. There are around 11 crore people in the country who have not taken the second dose after the expiry of the prescribed interval.
The Health Minister said that adequate vaccine doses are available in the country, and more than 12 crore balance unulitised doses are available with the states/UTs for administering. The state Health Ministers were requested to ensure continuous oversight on progress of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Mandaviya urged the states and UTs to make regional and local level plans with all stakeholders to reduce the 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 CoWIN portal.
The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore milestone on October 21. According to the government data, around 75 per cent of India's all eligible adult population has been administered at least the first dose and around 32 per cent has received both doses of the vaccine.
India took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach the 30-crore mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The country took 24 days to reach the 40-crore mark from 30-crore doses and then 20 more days to surpass the 50-crore vaccination mark on August 6.It then took 76 days to go past the 100-crore mark.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with health care workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. The country launched vaccination for all people aged over 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing all above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.
