Gurgaon: Since January 16, when Covid vaccinations began,
Haryana has so far inoculated 11.5 lakh
recipients or 4.6% of its population of 2.5 crore.
Among the districts, Gurgaon has had the most number of recipients taking the
jabs. The district, which has a population of 15.1 lakh according to the 2011 Census, has inoculated 10.5% of it.
Faridabad, with a population 18.09 lakh, has managed to vaccinate 7.1% of them.
But officials are more worried about the rate of vaccinations in 12 districts, where not even 4% of the population has been administered the shots. Among them is Nuh, where only 1.1% of the population has been inoculated.
While Panipat has covered 2.6% of its population, Palwal has inoculated 2.7%. Jind has managed only 2.2% while the rate of vaccinations in Mahendergarh is 3.4%, Jhajjar 3.6%, Charkhi Dadri 3.8%, Fatehabad 3.40%, Kurukshetra 3.7%, Hisar 3.2%, Kaithal 2.7% and Bhiwani 3.9%.
As part of efforts to improve the percentage in these 12 districts, the Haryana government has decided to conduct mega vaccination drives on Mondays and Tuesdays, when it aims to inoculate 2 lakh recipients. Across the state, the government has set a target of vaccinating 5 lakh people in a week.
“On Monday, we succeeded in vaccinating 2.5 lakh people across the state. Every week, we aim to inoculate at least 5 lakh people. That’s our target for now,” said Rajeev Arora, additional chief secretary (health).
Rural areas are one of the major concerns when it comes to the rate of vaccinations. District officials have been directed to set up session sites in sub-centre healthcare units of villages to vaccinate people in the area. This apart, ASHA workers have also been asked visit households and motivate people into getting themselves vaccinated.
The numbers in the state are likely to improve with the Centre’s decision to allow anyone above 45 to be administered the
Covid vaccine. “At present, our focus is on rural areas. But we will soon increase the number of session sites as the central government has announced that people aged above 45 can be administered the vaccine from April 1. Gurgaon has been able to vaccinate the maximum number people in the state so far. We hope this trend will continue in the future as well. We will also create session sites at our regular immunisation centres after April 1,” said Virender Yadav, the chief medical officer of Gurgaon.