As cases rise, vaccination drive slows to a trickle across Jharkhand

RANCHI: Covid-19 vaccination drive in Jharkhand is slowing down even as the state continues to record an unprecedented surge in daily infections.
As per the state health department’s Covid-19 bulletin, 26.90 lakh people have taken their first doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the state so far while 5.35 lakh have taken their second doses. And in between April 22 to May 6, only 1.42 lakh beneficiaries took their second doses while 1.75 lakh people took their first shots.
The numbers stand in stark contrast before the second wave of the pandemic hit the state. On March 21, nearly 1 lakh beneficiaries, a majority of them senior citizens and people above 45 years, took theirs in a day.
In between April 21 and April 29, only 4% of the total beneficiaries, who are due for their second doses, turned up at the vaccination centers on average each day. The daily turnout of beneficiaries for the first dose hovered between 18-32% since the lockdown came into effect on April 22.
On Wednesday, only 8,163 people took their first jabs. On May 2, the number of people who took their first dose was at 4,200. “The low turnout for second doses is a concern,” a senior health official said requesting anonymity.
Sources in the department said vaccination drive has been hit due to two reasons. “A lot of nurses who are deployed in vaccination duty are turning positive. Hence, the session sites are being shifted to other locations. This is creating confusion among the beneficiaries about where to go for their second doses,” another officer said.
The department, however, ruled out that there was a shortage of vaccines. “There were around 5.25 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin combined, which have been distributed to the districts. Fresh consignments are due to arrive. Many doses in the district are lying unused as there is lesser footfall,” a well-placed source said.
Although a beneficiary in Jamshedpur who had gone to take his second jab on Thursday said that he was turned away from the vaccination site citing lack of doses.
Ravishankar Shukla, the mission director of state health mission, did not respond when contacted.
An awareness campaign is being mooted as the state’s vaccination centres are reporting a low turnout of beneficiaries, particularly those who are due for their second doses, department sources said.
Meanwhile, departmental sources on Thursday said they have received 1.34 lakh doses of Covishield for the third phase of the vaccination drive, which is due for people in between 18-44 years of age. “We are hoping for more doses to arrive before May 10, so that we can start the drive at government vaccination sites,” an officer in know of things said. Notably, Jharkhand government has ordered 50 lakh doses of vaccine from Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to begin the drive.