Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on October 9 virtually interacted with principal secretaries and National Health Mission directors of Gujarat and 18 other states and reviewed the progress of Covid-19 vaccination.
The health minister noted that if festivals were not celebrated per Covid-19 protocols, the containment of Covid-19 could be derailed. “The twin-pronged solution is to follow Covid protocols very strictly and speeding up vaccination,” he stated.
Observing that more than 8 crore balance doses are physically available with states, he enquired regarding the specific hurdles, if any, faced by the states in increasing their pace of vaccination and the consequent vaccine coverage among the target population.
The minister also told the states to increase their target for vaccination so the nation can claim to have given 100 crore doses in the next few days.
Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan urged all the state health administrators to be strict about the observance of Covid’s appropriate behaviour during the festivities to prevent the third wave.
Besides Gujarat, states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were part of the virtual meeting.
According to CoWIN, India has so far administered 94 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses. Gujarat has inoculated 6 crore people with at least one dose.
