Centre asks 12 states to expedite vaccination process

Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan asked states and union territories registering less than 40 per cent vaccination to expedite the process and increase vaccination sessions, ETV Bharat's Senior Correspondent Gautam Debroy reports.

New Delhi:The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Monday asked 12 states and union territories to expedite their Covid-19 vaccination drive.

States and UTs like Assam, Delhi, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Ladakh, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Puducherry have reported less than 40 per cent vaccination to the health care workers.

On the other hand, 13 states and UTs including Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Island, Chhattisgarh have reported more than 60 per cent vaccination ever since the process started form January 16.

In the initial stage, the government has started vaccinating one crore health care workers followed by two crore frontline workers including security personnel from February 5.

The Government now intends to vaccinate 27 crore people who are 50 years and above and suffering from co-morbidities from March.

Government statistics said that as many as 58 lakh healthcare and frontline workers have been vaccinated in India till Monday morning in 1,16,478 sessions.

Read:Over 12k COVID-19 cases reported in one day, 78 new fatalities

Officials in the Health Ministry told ETV Bharat that health secretary Rajesh Bhushan through a video conferencing with all states and UTs, asked them to expedite the vaccination process.

"States and UTs registering less than 40 per cent vaccination have been asked separately to expedite the process. They have also been asked to increase the vaccination session," officials said.

Interestingly, no casualties reported under Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) process till date.

It may be mentioned here that 17 states and UTs have not reported any death in the last 24 hours whereas 33 states and UTs have less than 5,000 active cases.

Health Ministry statistics said that India has been recording less than 150 daily deaths continuously for the last 10 days.

Only 84 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. The active cases in the country now comprise just 1.37 per cent of the total positive cases.

Read:Central team directs Kerala to ramp up COVID-19 tests