India on Monday made a record by administering 85.96 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses on day one of the country's new vaccination strategy. States wise, Madhya Pradesh administered the highest number of vaccines with 15.42 lakh jabs, followed by Karnataka with 10.67 lakh jabs and Uttar Pradesh with 6.74 lakh jabs. However, for Jharkhand it was dismaying as the figure was less than even a lakh.
Jharkhand was on19th position among the States providing vaccines on Monday. In Jharkhand 95,258 doses were administered. District wise Dhanbad topped the list in vaccination as 9,506 doses were administered, while the least vaccines was provided in Jamtara district with only 1,048 vaccines administered.
State's population is estimated to be around 4.09 crore, out of which only 58.81 lakh population has been vaccinated which is only 14 per cent. Out of these only 6 per cent of the population have been vaccinated.
The slow vaccination pace in the State is a worrying factor as Delhi AIIMS director, Dr Randeep Guleria has predicted a third wave in the next six to eight weeks. The tardy pace of vaccination is also cause of concern as Genome sequencing of 328 samples sent from Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh and Palamu have indicated 62 per cent delta variants. All these samples were sent to ILS Lab in Bhubaneswar. Prabhat Kumar, convenor of RIMS Covid Task Force, has said that getting many variants including Delta of Corona in the state is giving alarming signs.
An IMA official requesting anonymity said, “The slow vaccination pace is cause of concern for the state. The State should give pace to vaccination with more than half the population should be vaccinated before the third phase reaches the Country.” The IMA official said, “The state government is carrying out vaccination but it requires more awareness among people. Public representatives’ partnership should be made in the vaccination process.”
However, with the directive from the State government, in some districts vaccination has gained pace. Lohardaga is one such district where vaccination has gained momentum in the past few weeks. The district mostly comprises tribal and Muslim population in past few weeks has gone ahead in vaccination. Lohardaga Deputy Commissioner, Dilip Kumar Toppo said, “The vaccination pace in the district in the past few weeks has gone up. Presently we are vaccinating around 2500 to 2700 per day.”
The district administration to create awareness about vaccination has launched various awareness programmes. Toppo said, “The district administration through various mediums is creating awareness about vaccination and in this connection we have also taken the help of village heads and local religious leaders.”
Sources said the main reason behind slow vaccination is rumour in the villages. Villagers in Latehar are saying that taking the vaccine will make them impotent. This rumour has spread in many villages of the district. Rumours have spread in most of the rural areas of the State including Chatra, Simdega, Gumla that the vaccine will lead to death.
A beneficiary being administered the Covid-19 vaccine, at a rural area near Ranchi