The Government has set a target of vaccinating at least 10 lakh rural residents during a six-day Panchayat level vaccination campaign against Covid-19 virus from March 20 to March 27 in Jharkhand, health officials said on Tuesday. Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the villages would double up as immunisation facilities during the campaign, they added.
As per a press communiqué shared by the National Health Mission (NHM), the special vaccination drive will be run on March 20, March 21, March 23, March 24, March 26 and March 27. The health department aims to set up at least one vaccination centre at each of the 4562 Panchayats in Jharkhand, officials said.
“The PHCs and CHCs will double up as vaccination centres during the campaign. During the campaign, we will focus on senior citizens and people above the age of 45 years with comorbid conditions,” said NHM Director, Ravi Shankar Shukla.
Health Secretary KK Soan has directed officials in all the 24 districts to identify senior citizens and people who were above the age of 45 years and suffering from comorbid conditions for the vaccination programme in the Panchayats.
The beneficiaries will be informed in advance about their date of vaccination and provided details of the vaccination centre where they can get the jab for free, health officials involved in the campaign said.
In many parts of rural Jharkhand, the fear of side effects and rumours spread over social media have slowed down the vaccination campaign, sources said. In some villages of Latehar, Lohardaga, Chatra and Pakur, many senior citizens avoided the vaccine jabs. As a result, while urban districts like Ranchi and Bokaro vaccinated more than 10,000 senior citizens each, Latehar, Lohardaga and Chatra inoculated less than 2000 senior citizens since March 1.
Senior citizens in Ranchi have been the most prompt in getting the vaccine jabs in the State. More than 13,000 senior citizens have been vaccinated in Ranchi alone since March 1 – the highest among the 24 districts in Jharkhand. Most of the senior citizens and middle-agers vaccinated so far got the jabs at public hospitals, sources in the health department said.
As per Government data, around 5 lakh people have been administered the first dose of the vaccine in Jharkhand so far, and more than 3.5 lakh of them were healthcare and frontline workers. Around 1.16 lakh senior citizens and close to 20,000 middle-agers with comorbid conditions have got the first jab of the vaccine in the state since March 1. Over 1.5 lakh healthcare and frontline workers have received the second dose of the vaccine as well.