NEW DELHI: The Centre on Saturday categorically asked states to use a line-list of beneficiaries due for their second doses of Covid vaccine to prepare district wise plans involving district magistrates and inoculate them on priority in a time-bound manner using data available on CoWIN platform.
The instructions come in a national review meeting by the Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan as there are a large number of people left out on second jabs against coronavirus has emerged as a major challenge for the government, even though the country just reached a crucial milestone of administering 1 billion Covid shots.
As per the government data, so far 71.24 crore first doses covering 76 per cent of the eligible population and 30.06 crore doses have been administered covering 32 per cent of the adult population with full vaccination have been administered.
It means that over 40 crore people have taken only the first doses and are due for their second shots—either waiting for their turn as the interval period between the two doses is yet to get over or have missed out on it for some other reason.
For this reason, said the ministry, the states have been urged to improve the momentum of vaccination and accelerate the coverage as the country moves forward to vaccinate all the eligible population by end of the year under the nation-wide Covid vaccination drive.
It added that the line list of due beneficiaries Covid-19 vaccination centre wise, and therefore also district wise), is available on the CoWIN platform the states were requested to access the same.
“The secretary noted that the detailed line-lists of due beneficiaries can be utilized for preparing a district-wise second dose administration plan involving the district magistrate for execution in a time-bound manner,” a statement by the ministry said. The states were also directed to review the progress of such district-wise plans daily, to ensure saturation of all eligible beneficiaries.
Push for improving efforts in rural areas
States have been advised to prioritise districts with low vaccination coverage, address local challenges, check the need for additional vaccination centres and improve access in rural areas.