Ranchi, June 24: East Singhbhum (Jamshedpur) leads the state in terms of coverage of population for the first dose of vaccines in Jharkhand.
East Singhbhum has covered 19.30 per cent of the population in the first dose of vaccination and is followed closely by Koderma which has covered 19 per cent of the population under vaccination campaign. Capital Ranchi is way behind with only 15.10 population covered under vaccination campaign. The neighbouring districts of Seraikela Kharsawan and West Singhbhum are also way behind with coverage of 13.10 per cent and 12.85 respectively.
The other districts with the percent of population covered under first dose of vaccination are as follows – Lohardaga (17.80), Simdega, (17.70), Khunti (16.60), Godda (15.70), Gumla (15.40), Ranchi (15.10), Ramgarh (14.75), Hazaribagh (14.60), Jamtara (13.80), Palamau (13.75), Dumka (13.40), Deoghar (13.20), Seraikela-Kharsawan (13.10), Latehar (13), West Singhbhum (12.85), Pakur (12.60), Dhanbad (12.15), Bokaro (12), Garhwa (11.90), Chatra (10.55), Giridih (10.35) and Sahebganj (9.95).
Incidentally, as per the data shared by the state health department on Thursday, a total of 14 per cent of the total population has so far been covered under vaccination program (first dose).
The health department alarmed at the slow pace of the vaccination drive has intimated target to the respective deputy commissioners of the 24 districts.
“We need to increase the vaccination numbers to be eligible to get more number of vaccines from the Union health ministry as we are eligible to get vaccines in proportion to our population ratio compared to the country. We have set a target of vaccinating 2.5 lakh population daily and set daily target to each of the 24 districts. The additional chief secretary health Arun Kumar Singh in a video conference has asked the deputy commissioners to achieve the target,” said state health department nodal officer IEC, Siddharth Tripathy.
According to data shared by the state health department, last week the weekly vaccination figure hovered between 65,000 and 70,000 (except the weekend vaccination campaign) while now more than a lakh population is being vaccinated daily.
According to sources in the state health department the reason for the slow pace can also be attributed to the delay in getting vaccines in the month of May for the age group of 18-44 years. However, vaccination has picked up pace in the month of June and there are plans to exhaust all the available vaccines for the month of June.
“We have to exhaust the 33 lakh vaccines to be given by Union health ministry in July to be able to get more vaccines and this can be achieved if we increase our daily vaccination numbers,” said the health official.
Not even half of the elderly population has received first dose of the vaccine so far. Only 31 percent of the population in the age group of 45-59 years have been vaccinated while only 41 percent population in the age group of 60 years and above have received first dose of vaccine so far.
Nearly 95 percent of the healthcare workers and frontline workers in the state have been vaccinated while those in the age group of 18-44 years only 11 per cent have been vaccvinated.
