Vaccination lagging, govt appeals against hesitancy

PUDUCHERRY, TAMIL NADU AND PUNJAB HAVE VACCINATED LESS THAN 40% OF THEIR TARGETS: UNION HEALTH SECY

NEW DELHI: There are at least three states where fewer than 40% of people turned up for coronavirus vaccination, top government officials said on Tuesday, calling hesitancy among doctors and nurses “upsetting” and issuing fervent appeals for them to come forward.

The remarks were made at the government’s weekly briefing on Covid-19, which was opened by Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, who said three regions – Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Punjab – vaccinated fewer than 40% of their targets. Figures released later showed till Tuesday, 631,417 people have been inoculated in 11,660 sessions – translating to a coverage rate of 54 people per session, nearly half of the 100 identified as an appropriate threshold.

Officials who asked not to be named said the situation is now so serious that in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where the health minister and a bevy of top officials launched the mammoth vaccination drive on Saturday, did 55 vaccinations on Tuesday, a day after doing only 8.

Staff in other hospitals across Delhi now fear that vials of vaccine may go to waste if they don’t have 10 people to administer doses to within four hours of opening a vial.

“If doctors and nurses are declining to take vaccines, it is upsetting. The government appeals to you – please come don’t be reluctant. Because we don’t know how the pandemic will shape up in the coming days,” said VK Paul, Niti Aayog member (health).

Paul and Bhushan said that three days of vaccinations have shown that adverse reactions were lower than what has been seen globally, and the adverse effect following immunisation (AEFI) monitoring mechanism was robust enough to catch any problems. Bhushan said the number of mild AEFIS – reactions such as pain, nausea, mild fever – were reported in 0.18% of people vaccinated till Monday night. Severe AEFIS, which required hospitalisations, accounted for 0.002% of the immunisations. “Look at the data, look at the AEFI surveillance system we have put in place. This system has been built over two-and-a-half decades. We should have faith on such a system. If something serious comes up, we will respond to it,” Paul said.