New Delhi, Sept 4: The Centre has asked all the North Eastern (NE) States, Hill States and the Union Territories (UTs) to quickly complete the vaccination of the 18+ population with the first dose of vaccine. At the same time, it has also asked these states to focus on the 60+ age group as they are the vulnerable group to COVID-19.
These directives were given in a high-level review meeting chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Saturday with the North East and Hill States and UTs, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.
It was also mentioned that Meghalaya was among the few states with unsatisfactory vaccine coverage of 60+ age group.
Important directives to States and UTs
– The States and UTs need to quickly saturate the first dose coverage among the 18+ population category.
– States must also focus on the 60+ age group as the coverage of both the doses in this category is unsatisfactory in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya. The vulnerability of this age group to COVID-19 makes this exercise of prime importance.
– The attention of the States was brought to the fact that the administration of the first dose has progressively outpaced the administration of second dose. It was suggested that States earmark doses, earmark days and target the completion of the exercise for these beneficiaries.
Discussion on vaccine stock
The details of State and UT-wise balance stock of 0.5 ml Syringes, Vaccination Coverage among Special Groups (Transgender Persons, Persons with Disabilities, PWI and Prisoners), COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among women particularly pregnant and lactating women was also discussed.
States and UTs were advised to closely monitor the stock from State Vaccine Stores to Cold Chain Point, check rational distribution and restrict vaccine wastage to below 2%, update data on eVIN (electronic vaccine intelligence network) on a daily basis, check supply of other denomination syringes as per availability (0.5 ml/ 1ml/ 2 ml/ 3ml Auto Disable/Re-use Prevention Syringes(RUP)/Disposable) for COVID vaccination.
