Ever since the vaccination drive for minors was flagged off on Jan 3, Gujarat has seen 25 lakh minors avail of the first dose. A total of 35 lakh registered minors are as eligible for the shot. Countrywide vaccination drive for children in the age group 15-18 years was kicked off on January 3. A senior official from the health department shared that the state was facing difficulties in tracing the remaining 10 lakh vaccine beneficiaries.
According to the additional director of Family and State Immunization: “We have given the first dose to 25 lakh adolescents. However, the challenge is now to find those who have dropped out of school during the pandemic or are currently not in schools due to covid regulations. We plan to look for them via the Har Ghar Dastak program. This needs to be done fast because if the government decides to vaccinate the next age group, we will have a lot more beneficiaries on our hands.” The government is also trying to reach out to private NGOs for help in identifying children from the slum areas.
Gujarat currently has 1,34,261 active cases.
