Madhya Pradesh administration is all occupied achieving an uphill task of inoculating over 2.5 crore eligible population with the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of 2021.
The efforts of the state’s mega campaigns to boost vaccination in single-day drives are paying off. On November 10, the state topped the vaccination list among all states by administering over 14 lakh doses in a single day, the publicity department of the MP government announced on Thursday. On the same day, over 93 lakh received the first dose.
Lauding the effort of making Madhya Pradesh number one in vaccination, CM Shivraj called it a milestone towards the completion of 100 per cent vaccination in MP. The civic administration is actively raising awareness for the vaccination, especially for the second dose. After the first dose, the vaccination rate slumped as beneficiaries were less concerned and the number of cases also witnessed a significant decline, a senior officer from the Dept of Health claimed.
Following this, the health and other teams collaborated and kick-started an outreach campaign, reaching out to the eligible population especially those who can’t reach vaccination centres. As per the plan, the district collectors are personally visiting the vaccination centres and are posting updates on social media to inspire others. Chhatarpur collector Sheelendra Singh had posted a video of his inspection to a centre on Twitter.
Meanwhile, ‘Koi Na Chhute Abhiyan’, is being run and a few days ago, the Katni administration reached out labourers working in an MGNREGS project in Rithi block and they arranged vaccination form at the spot. In districts like Bhopal, collectors have personally called up several beneficiaries on phone to offer reminders for the second dose. Household surveys also were also done to trace beneficiaries in districts.
Far-flung tribal regions like Jhabua are also inspiring others by innovation in vaccination drives. Led by collector Somesh Mishra, inter-departmental coordination has been ensured to inoculate all with first dose and complete second doses with awareness and outreach programme. By May-June, we had a dismal record in vaccination and started a Sathiya campaign, linking young kids with the drive.
We singled out 352 young kids who were in the eligible population and were inoculated and they were asked to persuade parents for vaccines, Dr Rahul Ganwa, the district immunization officer told News18.com. As the results were encouraging the innovation was implemented statewide, he added.
People in rural areas change mobile numbers frequently so the health teams are keeping a database of first dose beneficiaries and ensuring second doses with the help of Aadhar card and other validations.
However, the second dose campaign is hitting another roadblock in backward regions as locals after Diwali migrate to big cities for work. In districts like Jhabua, the health staffers are identifying such persons and vaccinating them before they leave and are also urging contractors to get them vaccinated in cities where they work for those who are yet to near their vaccine due date.
“We are putting up checkpoints for buses carrying away labourers for vaccination and keeping their record for later follow ups,” Dr Ganawa said. We hold Khatla (cot) Panchayat for raising awareness in rural pockets and distributive turmeric smeared rice (as per local tradition) as an invitation for vaccination.
In yet another innovation, the health staff who organize vaccine camps at gram panchayats and cover beneficiaries in 2-3 km area, set out for field visits on two-wheelers to reach out to locals for vaccination in far-flung small settlements.
A district like Niwari which also faces large-scale migration of locals for work after Diwali, officials are keeping a watch on those leaving for work. A senior physician Dr RS Malarya told News18.com that they are vaccinating those leaving and keeping their data for follow-ups later for those whose due date is away. Mobile health teams reach out to locals at their homes and farms for inoculation, added the physician from a district which had undertaken Covid19 control on war footing and for a long time had zero cases in the district.
State still needs over 2.5 cr doses till December 21
As of now, the state has administered 5.01 crore first doses and 2.41 crore second doses. Still, the state requires well over 2.5 crore doses for completion of 100 per cent vaccination target by December 2021. To start with, the state had a target of administering 5.49 crore eligible population. However, with the correction of lists, excluding those dead and those migrated, the list has come down in the last few months.
Laggard districts
Districts like Alirajpur (1.30 lakh), Barwani (2.69 lakh) and Sheopur (1.58) are slightly slow in vaccination and administration is busy boosting the campaign in these areas. With around 43% vaccination rate of the second dose, most of the districts have achieved second dose vaccination in 35% to 45% as of now. The Diwali festive period had slumped the vaccination slightly but efforts are on to bring the drive back on track, Home minister Dr Narottam Mishra had said recently.
In a covid19 review recently, CM Shivraj had claimed that 100% vaccination will be achieved by December and announced a special campaign from November 15 for inoculation of those yet to get first and second doses. Call centres are asked to call up those who did not return to vaccination centres for the second dose, Chouhan said. Part of the vaccination campaign, the state will see mega drives on Nov 10, 17, 24 and December 4. Due to special campaigns, around 7 crore vaccines have been administered in MP as of now, Chouhan claimed on Sunday.
‘Nothing is impossible’
Our ‘Roko-Toko Abhiyan has earned applause from the Centre and we have topped on several times in single day campaigns, state vaccination in charge Dr Santosh Shukla said. With around 91% first doses, we are covering those left out in the campaign. The migration of the local population is a major challenge as 5-10% of locals have moved away from their places of residence. We have compiled the lists also excluding those dead and this will be handy in completion of the second dose target, added the senior physician. Asked how the administration plans to administer over 2.5 cr doses, the vaccination in charge put up a brave face saying nothing is impossible and we will complete the target with dedicated efforts.
Dr Prabhuram Chaudhary, Minister for Health and Family Welfare could not be reached for comments on the second dose target and related strategies due to his party organization engagements.
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