About 5 lakh in Kolkata missed taking Covid vaccine 2nd dose

kolkata: The state Health department has asked all the civic bodies to undertake massive awareness drives, put up banners and festoons at various locations to make people aware how important it is to complete double dose vaccination. The decision has been taken after it was found that around 5 lakh people from Kolkata had not received second doses within the due dates.

Some people have shown reluctance to get the second jab. Health department has urged the various civic bodies to ensure that people who have skipped the second dose of Covid vaccine go to the Common vaccination centres (CVC) to complete the double dose. Civic authorities have been requested to deploy staff who will contact on their mobile numbers and trace their whereabouts. State government has already decided to engage ASHA workers who will carry out a survey by visiting every household in the districts and check whether someone has skipped the second dose.

According to sources, around 85 per cent people in the city above the age of 18 have already received double doses but in case of the districts the figure remains anywhere between 35 to 40 per cent. Bengal has already completed the first dose of Covid vaccination among over 90 per cent of its eligible population. Bengal has so far cumulatively administered the Covid vaccine on nearly 9 crore people.

According to a senior health official, many Central forces jawans who had come here for election duty received the first dose here but they left the state without taking the second jab. As a result these numbers are still shown as 'overdue' in the record of the state health department. In a similar way, many migratory workers who had received the first shot here later moved away. There are some cases where the people were reluctant to receive the second doses while some others could not be contacted probably because of some problems relating to their mobile numbers. Some did not receive the second as they had fallen victim to Covid after taking the first jab.

It may be mentioned here that the Health department has given a great emphasis on vaccination in the rural areas. It has already alloted over 75 percent of doses of vaccine to the rural areas to make up for the recent low rate of vaccination in rural parts. The vaccination rate has always been higher in the urban areas.