Over 37 lakh yet to get first dose in Punjab

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 20

While there has been talk of booster dose in other countries for the Omicron strain of Covid virus, over 37 lakh beneficiaries of the target-population in the state are yet to be administered the first dose of the vaccine. Of the 2.07 crore target-population, around 1.70 crore have received only the first dose while 88 lakh beneficiaries received both doses in the state.

The Health Department is now saying that it had already directed the district headquarters to hunt for the beneficiaries who are yet to be administered the first dose. “We will identify the left-out beneficiaries and motivate them for vaccination,” said Dr Rajesh Bhasker, state nodal officer.

The department’s campaign “Har Ghar Dastak” in November — to cover the entire target population with the first dose — was affected by protests of ASHA and ANM workers. Bhasker claimed that there was no let-up in vaccination, and above1 lakh beneficiaries were being vaccinated daily.