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Tag: Jharkhand vaccination

  • Covid vaccination likely to be halted for two days in Jharkhand

    By Express News Service
    RANCHI: The ongoing vaccination drive in Jharkhand is likely to be halted for at least two days as the state ran out of vials on Tuesday. According to senior officials in the health department, the vaccination drive is expected to resume on Friday after the allotment for the month of July reaches here.

    “82, 000 doses of vaccines were left on Monday evening which got finished on Tuesday. The next lot of 6 lakh vaccines is likely to arrive on July 2. Till then the vaccination drive will have to be suspended,” said Nodal Officer for Health department’s IEC Siddharth Tripathy.

    Meanwhile, only a few doses of vaccine have been left in Khunti, which will be administered on Wednesday, he added.

    According to official records, a total of 68,28,708 people have been vaccinated in Jharkhand so far in Jharkhand. 57,70,683 people have been administered the first dose, while 10,58,025 people have been administered both doses.

  • Jharkhand launches ‘Weekend Intensive Vaccination Campaign’ to expedite vaccination

    Express News Service
    RANCHI: The Jharkhand government has started ‘Weekend Intensive Vaccination Campaign’ in every district on Friday with a target of vaccinating at least 1.5 lakh people every day. 

    The campaign’ is to be conducted on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a large open space such as a stadium, playground in the panchayat, block and district levels.

    These centers will also be utilized for creating awareness among the people regarding vaccination.

    According to the letter written by Additional Chief Secretary (Health) to all district heads, all influential people such as politicians, judicial and administrative officers and tribal leaders such as Munda, Pahan and Manaki, along with their family members, will be vaccinated to build a sense ofconfidence among the people.

    “Weekend Intensive Vaccination Campaign has already been started from today itself, where special campaign will be conducted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to improve vaccination percentage in Jharkhand. People will be mobilized at the panchayt, block and district levels and vaccinated at the mass level,” said A Dode, the nodal Officer for vaccination. The maximum coverage of the people belonging to the age group of 45+ will be ensured during this special campaign, he added.

    According to Dode, most of the vaccination during the ‘Weekend Intensive Vaccination Campaign’ will be done through Aadhaar-based authentication of the beneficiaries. Dode further said that regular COVID Vaccination Centers (CVC) will keep functioning as usual.

    “For this campaign, large open spaces such as football stadium, playgrounds, marriage halls or campuses block offices or Community Health Centres or any other such spaces, having a facility of vaccination for 50-100 persons at the block or panchayt level and 100-150 persons at district level have been identified to conduct the campaign at the mass level,” said Dode. At these CVCs vaccination could be conducted for both 45+ and 18+ categories at a time, he added.

    Initially, the campaign is planned for the month of June only, but it may be extended as per the response from the people.

  • Fear of death, impotence keeping villagers away from Covid jabs in Jharkhand

    Express News Service
    RANCHI: People in rural areas, especially the tribal dominated districts such as Gumla, Khunti and other adjoining districts, are reluctant to get COVID vaccine due to the fear of death, fever and impotence as well, after the jabs are administered to them. 

    Not only they are reluctant to take the jabs, but health workers reaching out to tribal villages for vaccination and awareness drives are being attacked by the villagers.

    In a recent such incident, health workers who had gone for COVID survey to the Unkuda village under Torpa Block of Khunti on Tuesday were attacked by the villagers asking them to leave the place or they will be killed. Villagers were said to be annoyed after a woman in the village died within few days aftertaking COVID jab.

    There are more than half a dozen villages in Khunti itself which witnessed opposition from the locals after the survey team reached there and asked not to bring vaccines to the village in the last few days. Interestingly, even those who have taken the first dose are also not turning up for the second one afterthey got fever after the first jab.

    Local village representatives in Gumla also asserted that there is a misconception among the villagers regarding the vaccine, due to which they are not ready to take the jabs.

    “There is a misconception among the villagers that COVID jabs will make them impotent, ill or they might also die. Some of the incidents where people having comorbidity died after taking the jabs have strengthened their belief,” said Senha Circle Officer Vijay Das. Looking at these problems, intensive awareness drive has been launched in the region following which, people have started turning up for vaccination, he added.

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    Moreover, traditional village heads and priests are being administered COVID vaccine on priority basis to pass a positive message and develop a sense of confidence among villagers.

    Local village representatives in Gumla also confirmed that people are really afraid of taking the jabs due to the fear death or getting ill.

    “People here are afraid of taking the jabs as they get fever as soon as they are administered the vaccine. Though, this is a common phenomenon, a belief has been established among the villagers that vaccines are making them ill,” said Mukhia of Andhardih village under Ghaghra Block of Gumla, Jhari Oraon.

    Enamul Khan of Malgo village under Bharno Block was of the view that people are also not very keen to take the jab as some of the people died after a few days of getting the COVID vaccine.

    “Recently, some of the old age people who already had high blood sugar and other ailments, died after a few days of taking the jab which has strengthened their belief that the jabs are killing people,” said Khan. As most of the people got fever post vaccination, many of them have already decided that they will not go for the second jab, he added.

    Officials said that there definitely is a problem, which is being resolved gradually. “There is a belief among the villagers that they should not have any problem due to the vaccine but people are getting fever post vaccination. So they are not very keen in taking the second jab,” said Bishunpur BDO Chanda Bhattacharya. There was very encouraging response during the first doze, but since most of the people got fever and headache after that, they are not turning up for the second doze, she added.

    Gumla Deputy Commissioner Shishir Kumar Sinha also admitted that there is some problem due to which intensive awareness drive has been launched to encourage people to come forward for vaccination.

  • Hemant Soren writes to PM Modi, demands free Covid vaccine for all in Jharkhand

    By Express News Service
    RANCHI: Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday shot off a letter to PM Narendra Modi requesting him to provide free vaccines to the people of all age groups in Jharkhand.

    The procurement of Covid vaccines by states on their own is “against the principle of cooperative federalism”, the CM said. Soren, in his letter, also expressed his concern over the rates specified by the Centre to procure vaccines.

    According to Soren, the inherent diversity of India creates various peculiarities specific to the concerned states and every state has its own high-risk groups depending on geographical, cultural, and traditional heterogeneity. Therefore, a common framework defined by the Government of India with regard toprioritizing of beneficiaries across the Country is not desirable, he stated.

    “The State of Jharkhand like other States has always received vaccines free of cost from the central government for all other programs such as pulse polio. This is probably for the first instance in the history of independent India that the States have been mandated to procure vaccines on their own. 

    “Such a mandate under the ongoing challenging and unprecedented circumstances where the entire nation is struggling for over a year stands against the principle of cooperative federalism,” stated Soren in his letter.

    ALSO READ  | This is no time for politicking by Centre, need to survive the Covid storm jointly: Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren

    Soren also mentioned that the rates specified by the central government for procurement of vaccines by the state for the age group of 18-44 years are significantly higher than the rates at which vaccine is being procured for the beneficiaries in the age group of 45 years and above.

    This dichotomy, according to Soren, will not stand the scrutiny of the reasonable classification under the fundamental principles of the Constitution of India.

    “Moreover, the financial burden on the states for vaccination of the age group of 18-44 years is likely to be more than Rs 1,100 crore considering 1.57 crore eligible beneficiaries. With vaccine being available for the age group of 12-18 years and below, the mentioned financial burden will further increase byaround Rs 1,000 crore,” Soren said in the letter.

    If will be extremely difficult to spare this much from the resource pool of the state which is already stressed during the Covid times, it added.

    “Therefore, Soren stated in his letter, it is requested to provide to the State free vaccine for the beneficiaries of all age groups and also give us freedom to define priorities for vaccination coverage. This would help us in achieving the target of full vaccination in a timely manner which would go a long way inensuring effective tackling of the anticipated third wave, it added.