Gurgaon: The total number of people vaccinated in all 22 districts of
Haryana taken together in the third phase as of March 5 is just 37,745.
Less than 1,000 people have been given their shots in 13 districts and the numbers are below even 500 in eight of these – Hisar (948), Rewari (884), Rohtak (816), Bhiwani (701), Palwal (616), Jind (487), Mahendergarh (436), Panipat (422), Jhajjar (394), Fatehabad (391), Kaithal (368), Charkhi Dadri (238) and Nuh (120).
The best-performing districts include Gurgaon (9,455), Faridabad (6,634), Panchkula (3,595), Karnal (2,965), Sirsa (2,506), Yamunanagar (1,730), Ambala (1,654), Sonipat (1,385) and Kurukshetra (1,000).
Officials said the turnout has been better in the bigger urban districts and rural areas require more focus. Dr Dhruv Chaudhary, the nodal officer for
Covid-19 in Haryana, said, “There is vaccine hesitancy among the masses and, therefore, inoculations in rural areas are taking time to pick up.”
With the Centre allowing 24x7 vaccinations, the window for walk-ins is expected to go up and boost the numbers.
Meanwhile, health departments in some districts said they increased the number of session sites on Friday to carry out as many vaccinations as possible. “The number of session sites went up from 20 to 59. There are certain technical issues though while the registrations are slowing the process down,” Faridabad deputy chief medical officer Ram Bhagat.
Dr Brahmdeep Sandhu, chief medical officer, Palwal, said that the process is expected to pick up pace in the coming days. “There is vaccine hesitancy and at present, many want to wait and watch for a few days before taking their shots. People usually do not prefer a vaccine. Instead, they always go for medicines. Also, some might be thinking that the virus will go away eventually,” he added.
Gurgaon chief medical officer Virender Yadav also said that the elderly want to first observe how the situation turns out before going for the vaccinations.
Experts said it is important to increase the pace of the process at the earliest. Dr Shuchin Bajaj, founder director, Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals, said, “It’s crucial to do so before another wave hits us. The current pace has been due to the limited number of centres and the software glitches.”