Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
A medic administers COVID-19 vaccine dose to a beneficiary (Photo credit: PTI)
75 days long ‘Covid Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava ‘ concluded on September 30, 2022. The campaign was started on July 15, 2022 in a ‘mission mode’ in which special Covid vaccination drives were organised by all states and UTs to increase uptake of the precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine among the eligible adult population (persons aged 18 years and above who have completed 6 months or 26 weeks after the second dose).
As a result, more than 76.18 lakh first dose, 2.35 crore second dose and 15.92 crore precaution dose have been administered in this period of 75 days. More than 24.73 lakh doses per day have been administered including 20.68 lakh doses precaution doses per day. On July 15, 2022, only 8 per cent of the eligible population aged 18 years and above had received the precaution dose. With the intervention of 75 days long free vaccination campaign, 27 per cent of the eligible population have now received their precaution dose.
In 75 days, across all states and UTs, 11,104 camps were organised at bus stations, 5,664 camps at railway stations, 511 camps at airports, over 1,50,004 camps at various schools and colleges, 4,451 camps at routes of religious yatras, and over 11,30,044 camps were organized at various private and government workplaces and industrial establishments.
Under the ‘Covid Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava’, all states and UTs were urged to run the campaign as a ‘Jan Abhiyan’ with massive mass mobilisation, through a camp approach. Multiple special vaccination camps in the routes of Char Dham Yatra (Uttarakhand), Amarnath Yatra (Jammu & Kashmir), Kanwar Yatra (all States/UTs of North India) as well as major Melas and congregations were organized. Further, Special Vaccination Camps were organized at office complexes, industrial establishments, railway stations, inter-state bus stations, schools and colleges. A total of 13,01,778 such camps were organised for free Covid vaccination.
Administration of precaution dose is pivotal to confer full/extended protection to beneficiaries against COVID-19. It helps to reduce the severity of the disease, and the risk of hospitalisation and thereby reduces mortality.
In Delhi, the only state to provide free precaution dose to all adults even before the Centre’s 75-day drive, the precaution dose coverage stood at 19.6 per cent – behind bigger states such as Odisha (38 per cent), Gujarat (37.7 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (28 per cent), Bihar (23.4 per cent), West Bengal (22.98 per cent), and Madhya Pradesh (24.4 per cent).
The coverage of precaution doses in states like Maharashtra and Kerala, which have been dealing with a consistently high number of Covid-19 cases throughout the pandemic, was among the lowest at 10.7 per cent and 11.09 per cent, respectively
