New Delhi: With India vaccinating over 56 lakh beneficiaries so far against the novel coronavirus, the Union Health Ministry on Saturday announced the second dose of the vaccine will be given on February 13 to those who have received the first dose on the first day of the drive on January 16.
The Union Health Ministry has also asked the states and Union Territories to ensure that beneficiaries of the inaugural vaccination day should start getting a second dose on February 13.
This step assumes significance as India is the fastest to reach the 50-lakh mark in the world.
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The Union Health Ministry also urged the states and UTs to exponentially increase the pace of coronavirus vaccination and schedule the inoculation of all healthcare workers at least once before February 20.
“Every State/UT must schedule all healthcare workers for vaccination at least once before 20th Feb 2021 and immediately thereafter organize mop-up rounds for them. Similarly, all frontline workers must be scheduled for vaccination at least once before 6th March 2021 and immediately thereafter organize mop-up rounds for them. The failure of potential beneficiaries to get vaccinated in the mop-up round would automatically push them to age-appropriate vaccination category,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.
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Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, who reviewed the status and progress of COVID vaccination with Health Secretaries and National Health Mission (NHM) MDs of states and UTs through video conference, asked to improve the momentum and accelerate the coverage as the country moves forward with the COVID vaccination drive.
The State Health Secretaries were asked to analyze the daily variation in the number of average vaccinations and take necessary steps to increase them.
“The states and UTs were advised to ensure 100 percent saturation of people who have already been registered on CoWin digital platform. They were also asked to organize simultaneous vaccination sessions/day in the health facility wherever possible,” the Health Ministry said.
Each state and UT was advised to devise a state specific strategy to achieve this target.
