Panchkula sees a dip in teen vax pace

Tribune News Service

Amit Bathla

Panchkula, January 19

Though the Haryana Government recently announced that teens without the first dose would not be allowed to attend classes when schools reopen, the pace of vaccination in the 15-18 age bracket has come down drastically in the district.

In the first eight days of the beginning of the vaccination for this age group (January 3 to 10), 14,889 teens were vaccinated. However, the number went down in the next eight days. Only 4,784 beneficiaries got their first jab from January 11 to January 18.

Until yesterday, 19,673 beneficiaries in the 15-18 age group were vaccinated in the district – 49.2 per cent of the target. The district health administration aims at vaccinating 40,000 teens. Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lauded the fast pace of vaccination among teens.

The local Health Department said the non-operation of schools was the key reason behind the drastic decline in the vaccination pace in the 15-18 age group as parents were not sending their children to other vaccination centres in health settings for fear of contracting the virus.

Dr Meenu Sasan, District Immunisation Officer, said since schools were shut, parents were not sending their wards to other vaccination centres in healthcare facilities where they feared they would catch the virus.

“The Covid surge is also refraining people from sending their children for vaccination. Secondly, the cold wave is keeping people inside their homes,” she said.

To improve the figures, she said, “All ANMs have been instructed to focus on vaccinating teens like other age groups in rural areas.”

After Gurugram and Ambala, the district had recently claimed to achieve 100 per cent double dose coverage. The double dose coverage now stands at 101.38 per cent. The first dose coverage is 111.5 per cent.

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