Door-to-door campaign to push Covid inoculation drive
The drive has started Jodhpur and Pali districts, to start in Bikaner from June 14
Aabshar H Quazi and Aparnesh Goswami
KOTA/ BIKANER/ JODHPUR: Rajasthan government has started door-to-door vaccination in some districts for giving a push to the vaccination drive against coronavirus disease (Covid) in the state.
The door-to-door vaccination has started Jodhpur and Pali districts, while it will start in Bikaner from June 14, said officials familiar with the developments.
In Jodhpur, Jodhpur North Municipal Corporation and Jodhpur South Municipal Corporation, with the help of the medical and health department, started ‘Vaccination at your doorstep’ drive on May 31 with two mobile vans for 100 per cent vaccination of people in the 45-plus age group, which, the officials claimed, has yielded good results in many wards. Witnessing the success, the corporations over the next two weeks will ensure that the people who are reluctant or left out to get the jab in the age group get vaccinated, the officials said.
“We started the campaign from primary health centres. Ward wise vaccination camps were organised in the second phase. In many wards, even 80 percent success was achieved. Where people were less inclined towards vaccination, the help of local community leaders was taken,” said RS Tomar, Commissioner,
Jodhpur North Municipal Corporation.
He said that resistance to vaccination is being seen in many localities due to various reasons, where mobile teams are doing door-to-door immunization with consultations. In the houses where all the members have been vaccinated, the corporation is also pasting the vaccination completion poster so that the people or groups who are deprived of vaccination can be identified in the intensive survey.
Tomar said in the areas where there is more resistance to vaccination, an intensive campaign will be launched to ensure maximum vaccination in the next two weeks.
Such kind of door-to-door inoculation drive has been initiated in Pali district as well.
Meanwhile, the Bikaner district administration is all set to launch ‘On the spot vaccination’ drive from Monday. District collector Namit Mehta said, “A dedicated help line number will be provided to the citizens to register for group vaccination as we have decided to vaccinate at least 10 people in a group to avoid wastage of vaccine. The health department will be deploying three mobile teams to facilitate vaccination of aspirants.”
Chief medical and health officer (CMHO) OP Chahar said, “The mobile team will reach the spot where a group of minimum 10 aspirants will be available.”
According to a health department report, 756,050 people were vaccinated with both the shots till date in the district.
Meanwhile, state health minister Raghu Sharma has applauded the medical staff for record Covid-19 inoculation of 495,000 people on Friday. “Out of the 495,000 inoculated persons, nearly 484,000 persons got their first jab of Covid-19, whereas 14,334 persons got their second jab in a single day,” he said.
“So far, 1.91 crore (10.91 million) persons have been vaccinated in the state, of whom 1.56 crore (10.56 million) persons have received their first jab and 3460,000 have got their second jab of Covid-19 vaccine,” he said.
Dr Sharma said that Jaipur has witnessed record Covid-19 vaccination of 135,000 people in a single day on Friday, which is the highest Covid-19 inoculation in the country.
Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje had advised the state government for arranging door-to-door vaccination drive for women, while raising concern due to the low participation of women in the ongoing Covid-19 inoculation programme.
“Women are more prone to infection than men because the responsibility of the entire household lies on them. When someone falls ill in the family, the woman in the house takes care. Therefore, the state government should arrange doorto-door vaccination for women,” Raje said.
She said that the proportion of women vaccinated in Rajasthan is 94% as compared to men. The main reason for this is that the working women are busy with household chores. Women are not able to be free from household chores from morning till late at night. They consider it more important to serve the family than to get vaccination. Hence, the state government should pay attention to the vaccination of women, and motivate them.
She appealed the women of the state to take out time from household chores and get vaccination done to avoid corona. Raje also urged the women nursing workers, Anganwadi workers, Asha Sahyoginos, teachers and women’s public representatives to inspire more women around them for vaccination.