Free jabs announcement boosts 3rd Cov dose drive

Ranchi: Jharkhand has witnessed a sharp rise in the number beneficiaries taking the precautionary dose in the wake of the Centre announcing to give free jabs in that category last month as part of its Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
According to the state health department’s records, the average footfall was around 1,500 per day between July 1 and 14 but from July 16 to 30, it went up to 17,500 beneficiaries per day.
The department officials are of the opinion that an aggressive publicity campaign by the state and Union governments about the free booster dose drive helped push up the coverage rate.
“The coverage rate had dipped to the bare minimum around a fortnight ago. However, now not only has the number of beneficiaries taking the booster dose gone up, but even those who hadn’t taken the second dose are turning up at the session sites in large numbers,” state nodal officer for vaccination, Dr Rakesh Dayal, said.
On July 14, the Centre had announced to give free precautionary shots to those in the 18-59 age group from July 15 for 75 days.
Till July 15, 40,67,23 beneficiaries had taken the precautionary dose but by July 30, the number went up to 82,50,80.
On the other hand, improving coverage rate in the 12-14 and 15-17 age groups is proving to be a challenge. In the 12-14 age group, seven out of 24 districts are in the ‘red zone’ in the first dose category while 21 districts are in that zone in second dose category.
Till now, 9,41,895 beneficiaries, out of 15,94,000, in the 12-14 category have taken their first dose, which accounts to 59% of the total target population. The second dose coverage stands at 27% as only 4,24,730 beneficiaries have taken the jab.
Though the first dose coverage is better in the 15-17 age group as only four districts are in the red zone, the second dose coverage remains a challenge as 20 districts are in the red zone.
In the 15-17 age group, 63% — 15,11,618 beneficiaries out of 23,98,000 — have taken the first dose while 16,069 have taken the second shot till now.