News Analysis India

Tag: Covid vaccination

  • Maharashtra: No vaccine jab, no salary, says Thane civic body

    By PTI

    THANE: The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in Maharashtra has said its employees who have not taken even one dose of vaccine against COVID-19 will not be paid salaries.

    The decision was taken on Monday during a meeting of senior TMC officials, including civic commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma and Thane Mayor Naresh Mhaske.

    According to an official release issued late Monday night, the civic employees who have not taken the first dose, will not be paid salaries.

    The civic employees who have not taken their second vaccine dose within the stipulated period will also not get their salaries, the release said.

    The TMC has made it compulsory for all civic employees to submit their vaccination certificates at their respective offices.

    These measures are part of an effort to achieve the target of cent per cent vaccination in the city by this month-end, Mhaske told reporters after the meeting.

    A massive vaccination drive has been initiated in the city, located adjoining Mumbai, from Tuesday to achieve the target of cent per cent vaccination, he said.

    The mayor sought cooperation of the citizens in achieving the target and appealed to them to take the vaccine shots, and those who have taken one jab to take their second dose as well.

    The TMC has made available different vaccination centres, including ‘on-wheels’ inoculation facilities and jumbo vaccination centres.

    Regular outreach camps are also being held in the city, he said.

    In addition to this, under the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ programme, health employees, ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers and nurses will go door-to-door and collect details of those who have not taken the vaccine.

    Such people will be given the jabs, the official said.

    A total of 167 teams have been formed for the purpose, he added.

    Those who accompany patients to the civic-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj General Hospital at Kalwa here are required to produce their certificates establishing that they are fully vaccinated.

    Those who have not been inoculated so far will be given the jabs, the release said.

    Besides, teachers of various schools and colleges have also been roped-in into to create awareness about the vaccination drive among students.

    The students will in-turn pass on the message about the importance of vaccination to their parents, the release said.

    The garbage collection vehicles moving in the city will also spread the message about the importance of vaccination, it said.

    The mayor said it was a good sign that COVID-19 cases in the city were coming down, but every care should be taken that the infection does not rise, and the mega vaccination drive is the only solution for it.

    On Sunday, Thane district reported 118 new cases of coronavirus, taking the infection count to 5,66,749, while one death raised the toll to 11,543, as per official data.

    Maharashtra on Monday reported 751 fresh coronavirus positive cases and 15 fatalities, taking the tally of infections to 66,18,347 and the toll to 1,40,403, the state health department said.

    The number of cases and fatalities dipped on Monday compared to Sunday, when Maharashtra had logged 892 infections and 16 deaths due to COVID-19.

    A total of 1,555 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries in Maharashtra so far to 64,60,663, leaving the state with 13,649 active cases, an official said.

    Maharashtra’s case recovery rate now stands at 97.62 per cent.

    The fatality rate is 2.12 per cent.

    With 61,720 new tests, the lowest in the recent past, the number of samples examined so far in Maharashtra went up to 6,33,02,489 on Monday, the official said.

    On Monday, 16 districts and five municipal corporations in the state did not report any new COVID-19 cases.

    Mumbai districts reported the highest 206 new infections, followed by the Ahmednagar district with 46 cases.

    Among the eight regions of Maharashtra, the Mumbai region saw the highest 399 cases during the day, followed by 175 cases reported from the Pune region.

    Nashik region reported 102 cases, Kolhapur 30, Aurangabad 21, Latur 17, Akola five and Nagpur two cases, the official said.

    Mumbai region reported the highest number of eight fatalities among all the eight regions, followed by two deaths due to COVID-19 each in Nashik and Pune regions.

    Akola region, Latur region and Kolhapur region each reported one death.

    Aurangabad and Nagpur regions did not report any fatality in the last 24 hours.

    Mumbai city witnessed 206 fresh cases and five deaths.

    Pune added 51 cases, but no fresh fatality.

    Among 13,649 active patients in Maharashtra, the Mumbai district has the highest number of 3,599 active cases.

    Among the total 64,60,663 recovered patients across the state, the highest 11,33,367 recoveries are from the Pune district.

    Coronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 66,18,347, new cases 751, total deaths 1,40,403, fresh deaths: 15, total recoveries 64,60,663, active cases 13,649, total tests conducted 6,33,02,489.

  • Surge in Char Dham pilgrims thanks to fast-paced COVID vaccination

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN:  More than 4.6 lakh pilgrims have visited Char Dham shrines this year till Saturday breaking the last year’s dismal record.

    However, the figure is still far short of the pre-Covid times. Officials attributed the surge in footfall to country-wide vaccination programme to curb the pandemic.

    Dr Harish Gaur, media in-charge of Char Dham Devsthanam Board, the body responsible for managing the Char Dham Yatra said, “Control in the Covid-19 spread and excellent management by the board has made it possible for pilgrims to visit the temples without any hassle.”

    Portals of the shrines except Badrinath have been closed for winter season. Portals of Badrinath will be shut on November 20.  

    This year, the yatra started on September 18 after the Uttarakhand High Court allowed the pilgrimage.

    Till Saturday all four shrines received 4,60,012 pilgrims with 2,42,712 in Kedarnath followed by 1,50,828 in Badrinath, 33,166 in Gangotri and 33,306 in Yamunotri. In 2019, over 38 lakh pilgrims had visited the shrines.

    The offerings received had come down to `8 crore in 2020 from Rs 55 crore in 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kedarnath shrine on November 5, just a day after Diwali and a day before the closure of the shrine’s portals. 

  • Low vaccination in 45 districts: PM calls for micromanagement of Covid strategies

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  In a review meeting with officials from nearly 45 districts with low Covid vaccination coverage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked authorities to prepare specific strategies with each village and town to take the inoculation level closer to the national average.

    The meeting included districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of the first dose and also low inoculation coverage of the second dose.

    As of now, nearly 77 per cent of the adult population in India has received at least one dose of Covid vaccine but the percentage of population covered with double vaccinations is less than 33 per cent.

    The PM interacted with the DMs of districts in Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh and Delhi.  

    While he asked the officials to develop micro strategies keeping in mind the experience so far to go for saturation coverage of vaccination by addressing the gaps at local level, the PM also instructed the officials to make specific strategies for each village and every time.

    For this, he suggested that teams of 20-25 people can be formed and also directed authorities to prepare region-wise timetables for local goals.

    A government statement said that the PM spoke about the  issue of rumours and misunderstandings about vaccination and suggested that that awareness is the only solution for this, asking the officials to take help from religious leaders.

    Religious leaders are very enthusiastic about the vaccination campaign, he said urging for a special emphasis on taking their message to the public.

    The PM also stressed on the need to move from making arrangements for taking people to the vaccination centre safely to administering the jabs door-to-door. Asking the health workers to reach every house with the slogan “Har ghar tika, ghar ghar tika” (vaccine at every doorstep), the PM asked them to adopt the spirit of “Har Ghar Dastak” or knocking on every doorstep.

    “With the mantra of “Har Ghar Dastak” (knocking on every door), every household lacking the security net of a double dose of vaccine must be provided with it,” he added.

     ‘Tackle gap at local level’

    PM Narendra Modi urges officials representing districts with less than 50 per cent vaccine coverage to address the gaps at local level.  

    He spoke about the issue of rumours and misunderstandings around vaccination

  • PM Modi to review COVID vaccination efforts on Wednesday as India crosses 106 crore mark

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Immediately after returning to India after attending the G20 Summit and COP26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually hold a review meeting with districts having low COVID-19 vaccination coverage on Wednesday at 12 noon.

    As per an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, the meeting will include districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

    The Prime Minister will interact with District Magistrates of over 40 districts in Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, and other States with districts having low vaccination coverage.

    Chief Ministers of these States will also be present on the occasion, it added.

    Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 106.88 crore, as per data available on CoWIN portal.

    Meanwhile, over 106.85 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the country, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday.

    “Over 106.85 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under nationwide vaccination drive,” the Ministry said in a release.

    Meanwhile, India reported 10,423 fresh COVID-19 cases and 15,021 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

  • Assam to vaccinate all eligible population by January 15: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: The Assam government is targeting to complete COVID-19 vaccination of all its eligible population, estimated to be around 2.1 crore, with both doses by January 15 next year, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.

    Accordingly, the first doses of vaccines to all the people above 18 years will be completed by November 20, Sarma said at a press conference here.

    “We have given 2.78 crore jabs to our people, including 77 lakh people with double doses. We have around 2.1 crore eligible population for the vaccines and around 2,00,76,000 have received the first dose,” he added.

    All the willing and concerned people above 18 years of age have almost taken at least the first dose of vaccine and the remaining around 10 lakh people are a “resistant population”, who are either not willing to take the jabs or some very senior people not able to come to the vaccine centres, Sarma said.

    “We are targeting these 10 lakh people now and will launch a massive door-to-door vaccination drive for seven days in most interior places so that we will be able to vaccinate all the people by November 20.

    “If we can do that, then we have set a target to complete vaccination of all our eligible people with both doses by January 15 next year,” he said.

    The chief minister hoped that once the state is fully vaccinated, the third wave of the pandemic will not have much impact on its people.

  • ‘Jumla’ version of COVID vaccine story will not save lives: Rahul Gandhi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said actual vaccinations and not the “jumla (rhetoric) version” of the COVID-19 vaccine story would save lives and pointed out to the large number of people who are yet to be vaccinated in the country.

    He shared an article by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a newspaper which lauded Indian scientists and researchers on achieving the 100-core vaccination milestone but pointed out to the large number of people and children who are yet to be inoculated against COVID-19.

    “Jumla-version of the vaccine story won’t save lives. Actual vaccination will,” he said on Twitter using the hashtag “#DutyToVaccinate”.

    The Congress also shared on Twitter Sonia Gandhi’s article and quoted her, “The PM likes to emphasise that vaccines are free, while conveniently forgetting that they have always been free. It is the BJP government that moved away from India’s universal free vaccination policy.”

    Sharing the article on Twitter, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “The floundering economy can be turned around if we can drive away the dark clouds of COVID19. That requires us to ramp up the pace of the rollout of vaccines to all, completely free, including to our children.”

    Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also quoted the Congress president and said, “Not hollow announcements but genuine execution is the key to not only health of our citizens but wealth of our Nation”.

    “Vaccine for all, including our children. Usher in the festive season, with genuine optimism,” he also said quoting Sonia Gandhi and shared her article on Twitter.

    In the article “The vaccination milestone and a distant goal”, Sonia Gandhi pointed out that the Government ought to realise that vaccinating all Indians as quickly as possible is linked to their health and progress.

    “Our frontline health-care workers deserve our fulsome congratulations for crossing the milestone of 100 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. They, along with our scientists, researchers, medical professionals, and vaccine manufacturers, have heroically overcome multiple obstacles in the quest to protect our citizens from COVID-19. Thanks to their efforts, our vaccination drive has picked up pace after the initial months of delay, indecision, and confusion,” Gandhi has said in her article.

    She also said that this milestone also marks the triumph of science and of India’s research and manufacturing infrastructure built and nurtured over decades.

    The Congress president has also pointed out that the promise of all eligible Indians being doubly vaccinated by the end of 2021 is unlikely to be accomplished.

    “The hollow announcement has not been accompanied by either appropriate planning or execution. Experts assert that we will miss this target by at least five to six months,” she said.

  • Get fully vaccinated to get benefits of state govt schemes: Assam govt to people 

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Assam will not extend the benefits of state-sponsored schemes to the beneficiaries if they do not take both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

    “We are making vaccination mandatory. If someone is not vaccinated with both doses, then s/he will be deprived of the benefits of all state government schemes,” Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said.

    “We will check the vaccination status of people while rolling out the benefits of schemes to them. This will be enforced from next month,” he said.

    The minister also said that the government had set a goal to reach a vaccination target of three crores. According to the last count, Assam has a population of 3.29 crore.

    Till Monday, altogether 2,72,94,413 people have been vaccinated. Of them, 73,62,507 received both doses. Currently, the state has 2,535 active cases of Covid.

    Munindra Nath Ngatey, who is the Director of Assam’s Health Services, told this newspaper that there was still vaccine hesitancy among a section of the people.

    “Our worry is if these people do not get vaccinated early, they might infect others,” Ngatey said.

    He also said that an estimated 85% of the adults had received the first dose. A section of the people missed the second dose, he added.

  • 11 crore missed out second Covid vaccine dose’: Centre calls for meeting with state health ministers

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: A whopping 11 crore people missing out or delaying their second dose of Covid vaccinations has prompted the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandwiya to convene a meeting of state health ministers to discuss the barriers in ensuring full coverage for all vaccine beneficiaries.

    Over 76% of the adult population in the country has now received at least one shot of Covid vaccine but the percentage of people with full coverage is only a little above 32%.

    The meeting on Wednesday comes even as the data by the Union health ministry shows that while over 107 crore doses of Covid vaccines have been supplied by the Centre to the states so far, over 12.37 crore balance and unutilized doses are still available with the states to be administered.

    Sources in the Union health ministry said that even after the country reached a crucial milestone of administering 100 crore vaccine doses last week, the large number of people due for their second shots being left out has emerged as a major challenge for the government.

    ALSO READ | ‘Robust’ evidence that COVID-19 is seasonal infection: Study

    The decision to call a meeting with the state11 health minister came three days after in a review meeting of Covid vaccination, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan had asked states to use a line-list of beneficiaries due for their second doses using the data available on CoWIN platform.

    He had also suggested involving district magistrates in the exercise.

    “The secretary noted that the detailed line-lists of due beneficiaries can be utilized for preparing a district-wise second dose administration plan involving the district magistrate for execution in a time-bound manner,” a statement by the ministry had said.

    The states were also directed to review the progress of such district-wise plans daily, to ensure saturation of all eligible beneficiaries.

    In addition, states were also advised to identify and prioritize districts with low vaccination coverage for focused action and explore requirements for mobilization efforts, addressing local challenges, the need for additional Covid vaccination centres and improving access in rural areas.

  • ’11 crore missed second Covid vaccine dose’: Centre calls for meeting with state health ministers

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: A whopping 11 crore people missing out or delaying their second dose of Covid vaccinations has prompted the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandwiya to convene a meeting of state health ministers to discuss the barriers in ensuring full coverage for all vaccine beneficiaries.

    Over 76% of the adult population in the country has now received at least one shot of Covid vaccine but the percentage of people with full coverage is only a little above 32%.

    The meeting on Wednesday comes even as the data by the Union health ministry shows that while over 107 crore doses of Covid vaccines have been supplied by the Centre to the states so far, over 12.37 crore balance and unutilized doses are still available with the states to be administered.

    Sources in the Union health ministry said that even after the country reached a crucial milestone of administering 100 crore vaccine doses last week, the large number of people due for their second shots being left out has emerged as a major challenge for the government.

    ALSO READ | ‘Robust’ evidence that COVID-19 is seasonal infection: Study

    The decision to call a meeting with the state11 health minister came three days after in a review meeting of Covid vaccination, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan had asked states to use a line-list of beneficiaries due for their second doses using the data available on CoWIN platform.

    He had also suggested involving district magistrates in the exercise.

    “The secretary noted that the detailed line-lists of due beneficiaries can be utilized for preparing a district-wise second dose administration plan involving the district magistrate for execution in a time-bound manner,” a statement by the ministry had said.

    The states were also directed to review the progress of such district-wise plans daily, to ensure saturation of all eligible beneficiaries.

    In addition, states were also advised to identify and prioritize districts with low vaccination coverage for focused action and explore requirements for mobilization efforts, addressing local challenges, the need for additional Covid vaccination centres and improving access in rural areas.

  • Country now has strong ‘protective shield’ of 100 crore vaccine doses against pandemic: PM Modi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The country now has a strong “protective shield” of 100 crore vaccine doses to combat the biggest pandemic in 100 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.

    India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against COVID-19 as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore mark on Thursday.

    Speaking via video conferencing after inaugurating the Infosys Foundation Vishram Sadan at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) on the Jhajjar Campus of New Delhi AIIMS, Modi said, “This day of October 21, 2021, has been recorded in history. India has crossed the 100 crore vaccine doses mark sometime back.”

    “To combat the biggest pandemic in 100 years, the country now has a strong protective shield of 100 crore vaccine doses. This achievement belongs to India, every citizen of India,” the prime minister said.

    Modi also expressed gratitude to all the vaccine manufacturing companies of the country, workers engaged in vaccine transportation and health sector professionals engaged in administering the vaccines.

    On the inauguration of the Vishram Sadan, Modi said the Infosys Foundation has constructed the building of Vishram Sadan, while the cost of land and electricity and water has been provided by AIIMS Jhajjar.

    “I express my gratitude to AIIMS Management and Sudha Murthy ji’s team for this service,” he said.

    India’s corporate sector, private sector, and social organisations have continuously contributed in strengthening the health services of the country, the prime minister noted.

    Private sector will have a key role in our efforts to have at least one medical college in every district, Modi said.

    The 806-bed Vishram Sadan has been constructed by the Infosys Foundation as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.

    It is aimed at providing air-conditioned accommodation to the attendants of cancer patients, who often have to stay in hospitals for a long duration, the PMO had said in a statement.

    Built at the cost of about Rs 93 crore, it is located in close proximity to the hospital and OPD Blocks of the NCI.

    Union Health & Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, and Infosys Foundation Chairperson Sudha Murthy attended the inauguration, conducted via video conferencing.