Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 12

With inoculation of 67 per cent target population with the second dose of the Covid vaccine, the UT is placed seventh position in the country in full vaccination coverage.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has expressed concern over people not taking the second jab, which has resulted in slowing down of the vaccination pace. In Chandigarh, there are 63,000 beneficiaries who have missed their second dose even as the required 84-day interval between the two doses has completed.

Dr Suman Singh, Director, Health Services (DHS), UT, said, “As the daily count of new cases of Covid-19 has slowed down, vaccine complacency is setting in. People have skipped their second dose as they do not feel the need to stay immunised anymore. We have been tracing them through the contact number they had provided at the time of receiving the first dose, but they couldn’t be contacted.

Now, we are going to trace their addresses through Aadhaar numbers.”

The UT Health Department has also started “Har Ghar Dastak” campaign for house-to-house Covid vaccination of those who are yet to take a dose and those whose second dose is overdue.

Since March, Covid-19 vaccination in the city was the lowest between October 30 and November 5, as only 14,105 doses were administered during this period. Around 23,946 doses were administered between October 23 and October 29. There was a decline of 69.7 per cent from the previous week.

In order to increase the vaccination pace, the UT Administration has given three-day time to its government employees to get their second dose in time. A health camp will be organised for the employees and their family members to encourage them to take the second dose.