At least 2.80L people in Kolkata skipped taking the second Covid dose so far

Kolkata: Around 2.80 lakh people in Kolkata have skipped the second dose of Covid vaccine so far followed by Malda and Murshidabad. The due date of taking the second jab is over for around 2.14 lakh people in Malda who are yet to get a second jab. Almost all the districts including North 24-Parganas have around 1 lakh people who have missed the second jab within the due date.

Most of these people voluntarily skipped the second dose while some have migrated to other states. In some cases however, the health department could not establish contacts as they changed their mobile numbers which were given during the first jab.

State government has already directed all the District Magistrates to give more emphasis on the vaccination drive. State government may take up an issue with the Centre as it was found that proper data relating to the skip of second dose are not properly updated on the Central government portal as it creates confusion among the people.

The state Health department has already 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. Due to the awareness drive conducted by the districts the number of people skipping the second dose dropped substantially in the past few months. During November last year, the number of people skipping the second dose remained around 5 lakh.

Various civic authorities deployed staff to contact on their mobile numbers and trace the whereabouts of these people. The district administrations also engaged ASHA workers to carry out a survey by visiting every household in the districts and check whether someone has skipped the second dose.

Some did not receive the second as they had fallen victim to Covid infection 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 per cent of doses of vaccine to the rural areas to make up for the low rate of vaccination in some rural parts.