Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A two-day Covid vaccination mega drive (Maha Abhiyan) will be held from August 25 with 30 lakh doses of vaccine in Madhya Pradesh, according to health department officials. As many as 20 lakh doses will be available for first day and 10 lakh doses will be available for second day. Main focus will be on second dose.
According to health department, before Maha Abhiyan, there will no routine vaccination for Covid in the state as teams are busy making preparations at vaccination centres, according to Bhopal district vaccination officer Dr Upendra Dubey. Collector Avinash Lawania has instructed vaccination officers to plan vaccination drive while seeking coordination of Aanganwari workers, ANMs, ASHA workers.
District administration launched mobile vaccination plan on Monday and as per plan, van will visit different places with medical staff to administer dose of vaccine. It has been done on initiative of collector Avinash Lawania. It has been launched to focus on senior citizens, pregnant women, disabled persons.
Earlier, Madhya Pradesh had launched mega drive on International Day of Yoga on June 21 with target of 10 lakh. The government aims to vaccinate all by this year end. But it's unlikely to meet the target as shortage of doses and vaccine hesitancy plagued the campaign in recent months leaving majority of the people vulnerable.
Madhya Pradesh has reported overall 4,01,92,584 vaccinations so far with first dose tally reaching 3,35,91,428 mark and second dose tally touching 66,01,156. Over all target of the state is 5.5 crore. Thus, state needs 11 crore doses for total vaccinations.
Country’s vaccine supply policy has gone through several phases. In the first three, vaccinations were for healthcare workers, frontline workers, and those over the age of 60 years or over the age of 45 years but with co-morbidities. Starting April 1, vaccinations were opened up for those over the age of 45. In this phase too, vaccines were procured and allocated to states and private centres by the Union government. Starting May 1, India opened up vaccination for everyone over the age of 18.
Official speaks
State health commissioner Akash Tripathi, taking to Free Press, said, “Maha Abhiyan will be launched with 30 lakh doses of vaccines in MP. Twenty lakh doses will be used for first day and 10 lakh will be for second day. It will be two-day mega campaign from August 25.”
Published on: Monday,August 23, 2021, 09:06 PM IST
