Little over 50% turn up for vaccination
Health workers still reluctant to take the shot, say officials; campaigns on to remove hesitancy
NOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar district could improve its vaccination numbers by only 3.35% on the third day of the first phase of the drive, as 3,192 out of the intended daily target of the 6,095 corona warriors took the Covid-19 shot on Thursday. During the second session on January 22, the turnout was 49.02% as Covishield could be administered to only 2,059 persons out of the 4,200 persons.
According to official figures, due to the low turnout of corona warriors at centres, 49 doses of vaccines were rendered useless.
Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY also appeared foxed with the low turnout of beneficiaries.
“It is really discouraging that despite setting high standards in containing the pandemic, we are lagging behind in vaccinations,” he said.
“Taking serious note of the low turnout in the first three sessions of the first phase due to lukewarm response of health workers, I’ll hold discussions with senior district health officials. We’ll leave no stone unturned to ensure vaccination of all health workers marked to be inoculated in the first phase of vaccination,” the district magistrate said.
The DM further said that vaccination centres which are seeing lower turnout will be asked to encourage beneficiaries to take the shot, so as to ensure 100% inoculation at booths there. “Prima facie, it appears there is a general hesitancy among healthcare workers about the efficacy of the vaccines. We are already running an information campaign launched by the centre to clear their apprehension about rumours and misinformation. We are also planning to disseminate digital media packages with impactful messages from key technical experts from the country who have taken the vaccine against Covid-19,” he said.
Giving reasons behind the low turnout of health workers, chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Deepak Ohri said that health workers are still hesitant in taking the jabs.
“This time, we don’t have an excuse. We informed all beneficiaries two days before their slot. Even the CO-WIN portal didn’t slow down the inoculation at any centre on Thursday. But doctors and accredited social health activist (ASHA) workers, besides anganwadi workers, didn’t turn up in many areas for their vaccination. All of them are reported to be a bit apprehensive about the accuracy and efficiency of the vaccines. Their lukewarm response will certainly defeat the purpose of vaccination,” he said.
Expressing concern over the low turnout of health workers at some centres such as the district hospital and Sharda hospital – which had a turnover of little over 20% – the CMO said that with such a response, it will be difficult for the district health department to inoculate the remaining 18,809 health workers in three sessions left in this first phase.
“So far, we have vaccinated only 5,644 health workers in three sessions. While the next session is slated for Friday, the last two sessions of vaccination
will take place on February 4 and 5. The vaccination rate was very encouraging at some hospitals like Kailash hospital and Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), where the turnout was over 80%,” he said.
On the other hand, the district’s in-charge of Covid-19 vaccination, Dr Neeraj Tyagi, claimed that problems in the portal had hampered the rate of vaccination.
“We are still unable to upload the centre-wise vaccination details. The exact figures will come out by wee hours,” he said.