NEW DELHI: Only five to seven per cent of people have taken booster or precaution doses in the 18-60 age group, causing concerns for the government, which had launched the two-month-long Har Ghar Dastak 2.0 campaign to expedite vaccination coverage through door-to-door campaigns.
Now, the government is working on a focused plan so these vulnerable age groups can be further covered and protected from severe diseases as the door-to-door campaign is also not showing the desired results. “The uptake of precaution dose has been slow between 18-60 years, which is five to seven per cent for those eligible in nine months. But now, as the gap between the precaution and second dose has been reduced from nine months to six months, the percentage will further decrease,” said NK Arora, head of the Covid-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI). The five to seven per cent covered people who were eligible to take the booster dose in nine months.
Speaking with this newspaper, Arora said, even among those above 60 years, the booster dose coverage is around 40-45 per cent, which is very low. Over 2.58 crore people above 60 years have taken the booster shots. As there has been a slow uptake in vaccination among the 12-18 years age group and those above 60 years, the government is especially targeting these two vulnerable age groups.
“In children, our target is 12-18 years, as they are more likely to be affected by Covid and serious diseases. They are also at the age when they play together and cannot adopt appropriate Covid behaviour, so they contribute to the spread of the disease. They can take the infection from home or bring it home,” he said.