India to launch mega-vaccination drive today against Covid-19

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Indian government will on Tuesday launch the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ mega-vaccination campaign against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on the occasion of Dhanwantari Diwas, according to people familiar with the development.

The month-long door-to-door vaccination campaign aims to inoculate the entire population in poor-performing districts.

Narendra Modi, who is currently at Glasgow in the United Kingdom, is also set to hold a Covid-19 review meet as soon as he returns to India after attending the COP26 climate conference. According to reports, the coronavirus review meeting will focus on districts with low vaccination coverage, those areas which have less than 50 per cent coverage on the first dose and low coverage on the second dose as well.

After a Covid-19 review meeting with the health ministers of states and Union territories last week, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed the media about the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign to ramp up the vaccination drive. “We are going to launch a mega vaccination campaign ‘Har Ghar Dastak’. We have decided that for the next one month, healthcare workers will go door-to-door to vaccinate people eligible for the second dose and also those who have not taken the first dose,” said Mandaviya.

According to the Union minister, 77 per cent of the eligible population in India has been vaccinated against Covid-19 with the first dose while 32 per cent of people have received both doses.

“More than 10 crores people have not taken the second dose of vaccine,” he added. “People who are eligible for the second dose should take the vaccine.”

Highlighting the need to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination, he stated that there are more than 10.34 crore people in the country who have not taken the second dose after the prescribed interval. As several countries report a high number of Covid-19 cases, the ramping of vaccination drive in India to reduce severity becomes crucial. (Hindustan Times)