Centre reviews COVID vaccination drive, asks States & UTs to ramp up drive for second dose

The Centre on Thursday held a high-level meeting with States and Union Territories to review the progress of vaccination and public health response to COVID. In the meeting, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan highlighted the low vaccination coverage among Healthcare Workers (HCW) and Frontline Workers (FLW), especially for the second dose for both the priority groups, terming it as a 'cause of serious concern'.

He asserted that while the national average for the first dose administration among the HCWs is 82 percent, the national average for the second dose among HCWs is only 56 per cent, and added, "18 States/UTs including Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Assam have coverage below the national average in this aspect." He then went on to talk about FLWs and asserted that the national average of first dose coverage is 85 percent while the national average of second dose coverage for FLWs is only 47 per cent. He added, "19 States/UTs, which include Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana, Karnataka, and Punjab, have reported second dose coverage of FLWs less than the national average. "

Having given the figures, he advised the States to focus on the second dose coverage of healthcare workers and frontline workers. 

It is pertinent to mention here that so far, India has nearly administered 24 crore of COVID-19 vaccine doses. As per data issued by the government, 24,24,79,167 vaccine doses had been administered in India. This includes  1,00,12,624  HCW who have had their first dose and 69,11,311 who have got their second dose as well. As many as  1,64,71,228 FLW have had their first dose while 87,51,277 have got their second dose too.

In the 45-59-year age group, 7,33,23,267 people have got their first dose and another 1,16,22,718 have had their second dose as well. In the 60+ category, 6,16,38,580 people have been administered their first dose while  1,95,34,203 have had their second dose as well. In the newly added category of 18-44 year age group, 3,38,08,845 beneficiaries received their first dose while 4,05,114 have their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine across 32 states and Union Territories.

Revised guidelines for implementation of National COVID Vaccination Program

The revised guidelines which were announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday include a 100 per cent centralised vaccination drive against the COVID-19 pandemic, which will be implemented within two weeks. Making the key announcement, PM Modi had announced the scrapping of decentralized policy rolled out on May 1.

The Centre, as per PM Modi, will account for the procurement of 75 per cent of COVID-19 vaccines from the manufacturers and subsequently provide these free to the States for inoculation. The remaining 25 per cent would be available for private players, with a cap on the service charge. However, striking down the differential vaccine prices across private institutions, PM Modi announced that hospitals can only charge a maximum of Rs 150 of service charge per vaccine dose. Monitoring of price capping at private hospitals will be done by the states, he announced. 

On the occasion, PM Modi also asserted that from June 21 onwards all persons above the age of 18 years will be provided with free COVID-19 vaccines across all districts in the country. 

(Credit-ANI/PTI)