The Union Health Ministry flagged concern on Friday over the poor pace of COVID-19 vaccination across the States, urging them to speed up the process by saturating all eligible beneficiaries and also implementing the “First Expiry First Out” concept when using vaccines.
The Ministry of Health has advised that no vaccination centre or state government should demand formal proof of foreign travel from anybody seeking a precaution dose before travelling abroad.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan informed all States and Union Territories (UTs) of this new rule alongside reviewing vaccination status in a video conference conducted on Friday with Health Secretaries and other senior health officials.
The states have been informed of the near expiry doses that are lying unused. They have been urged to ensure that no wastage occurs, considering how ‘precious’ the COVID Vaccine is.
“This must be ensured through active monitoring and on the basis of the ‘First Expiry First Out’ principle, where doses that expire earlier should be used for vaccination first. Pointing out that supply of vaccine doses has been made to the States/UTs as per their demand since Dec. 2021, they were advised to first use the unused balance doses over the coming months of May, June and July,’’ a release issued by the Health Ministry remarked.
It was mentioned that in some states, those who want to travel abroad and take the preventive dose within 90 days following the second dose must provide proof of their intended foreign trip. Mr Bhushan reiterated that neither the vaccination centre nor the state government should require formal proof of overseas travel for people seeking the precautionary dosage before travelling abroad. States and UTs had been informed about the situation.
Focusing on the urgent need for ‘Mission Mode’ push to covid vaccinations across the nation in order to accelerate the current ‘placid momentum’, Mr. Bhushan asked the states and the UTs to plan a two-month-long, ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign 2.0 during the month of June and July with comprehensive district, block, and village level strategies.
He mentioned “The objective of the ‘Har Ghar Dastak2.0’ Abhiyan is to vaccinate and saturate the eligible population groups for the first, second and precaution doses through door-to-door campaign, with focused campaigns on old-age homes, schools/colleges, including the out-of-school children (for focused coverage of children aged 12-18), prisons, brick kilns, etc.’’
The sub-optimal coverage of persons aged greater than or 60 years with precaution dose which renders them vulnerable, along with considerably slower speed of coverage in the 12-14 yrs cohort was pointed out. States/UTs were urged to undertake effective monitoring with micro-plans based on duelists of all eligible beneficiaries. They were also urged to review the administration of precaution doses to 18-59 years age-group with the private hospitals on a regular basis.
Mr. Bhushan emphasized the importance of a clear and efficient communication plan for speeding up the nationwide vaccination process. He noted that India’s highly excellent COVID-19 coverage of over 191 crore doses was the outcome of customized regional communication best practices. The importance of regional influencers, community leaders, and inventive initiatives was also emphasized.
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