HP authorities set February 9 deadline

A total of 27,752 health workers have been inoculated during the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive in Himachal Pradesh.

Dr Nipun Jindal, director, National Health Mission, Himachal Pradesh, said the state has set a target of vaccinating around 77,000 beneficiaries in the first phase of the drive.

“We have achieved about 30% of the target. The districts have been given instructions to complete the vaccination drive for the first dose by February 9,” Jindal said.

He said the district health authorities have been instructed to increase the coverage in the coming days so that the target could be achieved well in time.

“The state would need to conduct about 650 sessions till February 9 to achieve the target for which appropriate directions have been issued to the authorities concerned,” he added.

Himachal had received a total of 1,80,500 doses of Covid-19 vaccine — 93,000 in first consignment and 87,500 in the second.

Of these, a total of 43,100 vaccines have been allotted to the districts for the first dose, while the doses for the second phase have been retained at the vaccine store in Shimla.

The health department said several new features have been introduced to COWIN portal such as allotment of beneficiary session, updating of backlog data and a provision to edit the details of registered beneficiaries.

The government has also directed the chief medical officers to utilise these features in a bid to avoid wastage.