Coronavirus Outbreak

Centre Writes To States To Increase COVID-19 Vaccination Pace

According to Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, a large number of healthcare and frontline workers still remain to get COVID-19 vaccination and so the pace of vaccination drive and its coverage need to be accelerated exponentially

Published

on

Highlights
  • COVID vaccination progress varies across States/UTs: Mr Bhushan
  • India started its COVID vaccination drive on January 16
  • The country is using Covishiled and Covaxin

New Delhi: The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Sunday (February 21) directed all the states/UTs to significantly enhance the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations. The Health Secretary in a letter to State said, “A large number of Health Care Workers (HCWs) and Front Line Workers (FLWs) still remain to be covered and the progress is variable across several States/UTs. The pace of vaccination drive and its coverage needs to be accelerated exponentially to cover all identified beneficiaries in a minimum possible time.”

Also Read: India Reports 1 Crore COVID-19 Vaccinations, Aims To Cover High Risk Group On Priority

The operational strategy for initiating the vaccination of the next priority group of the elderly population and persons with co-morbidities to be taken up from March 21 is also being finalized.

In view of the anticipated high number of beneficiaries to be vaccinated at a high speed in the forthcoming days, the states and UTs are advised to ensure that all the public health facilities from tertiary level medical colleges, Hospitals, and Institutes to District Hospitals, Sub-divisional Hospitals, Community Health Centres, PHCs, Health and Wellness Centres, Health Sub-Centres should be prepared for offering COVID-19 vaccination services on all designated vaccination days, beginning from 1 March, 2021.

The letter said that the number of days of vaccination in a week should also be increased to a minimum of 4 days per week at the earliest to speed up the process of vaccination and gear up to take up the vaccination of the people beyond 50 years.

Mr. Bhushan said that adequate provisions have been made in the COWIN software to support such expansion of services.

You are requested to kindly direct the concerned officials to immediately undertake the measures for expansion of COVID-19 vaccination drive your continuous guidance to the state/UT teams has been instrumental in driving the ongoing vaccination process and the same has been anticipated for the upcoming phase as well. I look forward to your continued collaboration in this critical mission of national importance, he said.

Also Read: Coronavirus Explained: All About The Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine, Covishield

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (WaterSanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollutionwaste managementplastic banmanual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene

[corona_data_new]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Exit mobile version