News Analysis India

Tag: Assam vaccination

  • Lukewarm response to second vaccine dose in Assam

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Assam government is perplexed that not many people are coming forward to take the second dose of the Covid vaccine.

    The state’s Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said the government had no idea on the lukewarm response to the second dose.

    “We tried a lot. We set up call centres at the district level and called up people (to come and take the second dose). Despite all such efforts, people are not coming forward to take the second vaccine shot,” a helpless Mahanta told journalists in Guwahati on Tuesday.

    “We haven’t received the kind of response we expected. We don’t know why people are not coming forward,” he said.

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    Till Monday, 1,18,35,601 or 51% of the beneficiaries took the first vaccine dose and 25,19,613 or 11% of the beneficiaries took the second dose.

    The minister appealed to people, including those who have not yet taken the first dose, to come and get jabbed.

    “We are administering 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh vaccine doses every day. We have sufficient vaccines and we want people to come forward and get vaccinated. The vaccines have been made available everywhere,” he added.

    Director of Health Services (Family Welfare) Munindra Nath Ngatey, who is the state’s vaccination in charge, told this newspaper that a certain number of people had not come forward for the second vaccine dose even after the expiry of the 120-day period.

    “The vaccination drive picked up momentum from May 1. In the case of Covishield, the second dose needs to be administered between 84 and 120 days from the day of the first dose. We have noticed that some people come after 100 days. Some come later than that,” Ngatey said.

    According to him, the second dose is due for 2 lakh to 2.5 lakh people. He said a section of the paramilitary personnel took the second dose outside the state. “I don’t know why there is some sort of hesitancy about the second dose,” he added.

  • ‘Opt for institutional quarantine’: Assam to Covid positive parents as 34,000 kids infected in 3 months

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Concerned over an alarming rise in Covid-19 infection among children, the Assam government has advised Covid positive parents to opt for institutional quarantine instead of home quarantine to keep children protected against the virus.

    From April 1 to June 26 this year, the total number of Covid-infected persons in the state was 2,80,504. They included 34,606 children up to the age of 18 years. Further analysis showed that 5,755 of the children were aged less than five years and 28,851 aged 6-18 years.

    Kamrup (Metropolitan) district has the highest caseload with 5,346. This stands at 10.04% of the total caseload of 53,251 in the district.

    Official sources said during the period, the state recorded 34 deaths among children. Many of them had comorbidities like congenital diseases (heart, kidney, rare malformations etc), especially among less than the five-year-old.

    ALSO READ | ‘Will ensure Muslims take initiative on population control’: Assam CM Himanta outlines 10-year vision

    According to the sources, during the ongoing Assam Community Surveillance Programme Phase 3, many children staying with Covid-infected parents or guardians, who had opted for home isolation, subsequently tested positive.

    The sources said the Health Department was strictly following the guidelines issued by the Centre on pediatric Covid management and initiated a slew of steps to address and manage infection among the vulnerable age groups.

    “Establishment of Covid pediatric ICUs at all medical colleges and district hospitals are at advanced stage. Over 5,000 healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff, have already been trained and are dealing with the patients so that we can save maximum lives. The 108 ambulances have also been trained to transport such infected children with appropriate care,” the sources said.

    Meanwhile, 12 Covid patients died at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital within 24 hours. Nine of the patients were admitted in ICU.

    The hospital authority said the patients’ oxygen saturation level was very low at the time of admission and their condition was critical. None of them was vaccinated for Covid.

  • Assam government frontline employees to receive salaries only if they are vaccinated

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Wednesday directed all departmental heads to ascertain the vaccination status of frontline government employees before releasing their salaries from this month.

    Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, in an order stated that it has been observed that many frontline government employees have not yet taken the COVID-19 vaccine, irrespective of their registration in the COWIN portal.

    The order came two days after the state administration said that it is mandatory for all workers of government and private enterprises, who have taken both doses of the vaccine, to attend office.

    Non-vaccination of such frontline government employees may give rise to the possibility of further spread of the virus which, in turn, may endanger the risk of common citizens, especially the vulnerable groups like infants, pregnant women and others, the order issued on Wednesday stated.

    “The state health department has arranged for large scale vaccination of all eligible age groups, both on and offline, and as such all departmental heads must ascertain the vaccination status of such frontline government employees before releasing the monthly salary/remuneration from the current month,” it said.

    It has been observed that though the number of patients and positivity rate is declining in some districts, the overall situation is still a matter of concern for which adequate containment measures are necessary to contain the spread of the virus, the order stated.

    Meanwhile, Assam crossed the daily target of vaccinating three lakh people by giving the shot to 3,31,315 beneficiaries above the age of 18 on Wednesday at 2,184 sites across the state under its enhanced “Free Vaccination for All”, an official said.

    Kamrup Metropolitan district vaccinated the highest number of 23,360 people, followed by 22,854 in Sonitpur, 19,095 in Nagaon, 18,012 in Cachar, 16,117 in Tinsukia, 15,845 in Dibrugarh and 14,827 in Dhubri.

    The campaign which began on Monday had exceeded its target on the first day by vaccinating 3,19,340 eligible beneficiaries.

    However, on the second day, it failed to meet the target with the inoculation of 2,41,809 people.

  • Assam to vaccinate 3 lakh people every day from Monday

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Assam has set a target of vaccinating three lakh people every day from June 21.

    “We’ve named this Enhanced Immunisation Drive. There will be two shifts of vaccination up to 9 pm in the towns. Every village and tea garden will have a vaccination centre,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told journalists on Friday after reviewing the preparedness with all district magistrates, superintendents of police, and health officials.

    “If we can keep achieving the target till June 30, the Central government will provide us with more vaccines. So, we have to work keeping in mind the target,” he said.

    Assam on Friday had a stock of 7.29 lakh vaccine doses. Health officials said the state was receiving the vaccines on a regular basis from the Central government.

    “Since we are receiving the vaccines once in every two to three days, we are hopeful that we can keep achieving the target,” Munindra Nath Ngatey, Director of the state’s Health Services, told this newspaper.

    Over 52 lakh of Assam’s 3.30 crore population have been vaccinated. They include 10.3 lakh people who have received both doses.