Jharkhand received a second instalment of the Covishield vaccine on Wednesday with state health department officials confirming they had got about 1.65 lakh doses which would allow them to go ahead with plans to immunize 1.25 lakh people in the first phase.
Jharkhand had received 1,62,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine on January 14, two days before the start of the nationwide vaccination drive. One vial contains 5ml of the vaccine which works out to 10 doses. Each beneficiary is to get two doses of 0.5ml each.
The state nodal officer for the immunization programme, Dr Ajit Prasad, told reporters they now had enough stocks to successfully vaccinate all registered beneficiaries in the first phase.
In the four days of vaccination in the state, 11,714 people got their shots against a target of 19,200, which works out to about 61 per cent. Wednesday’s count was less than 3,000 with only 2,779 people taking the vaccine, according to health department figures at 8pm. On Day One, 3,200 people took the vaccine, but the second day saw 3,000 people turning up for the vaccine. On Tuesday, around 2,735 turned up.
The vaccination drive is underway across 48 centres in the state with a target of 4,800 per day. No major adverse reactions have been reported so far, as per the health department.
“The low vaccination turnout is a nationwide trend. Since health workers are getting inoculated in the first phase, they should be more confident and forthcoming. The situation will gradually improve in the coming days as we now have sufficient stocks… we will step up counselling sessions and other motivational activities,” said Prasad.
The nodal officer said that now vaccines would be sent to all districts. “We don’t have a storage problem at all,” he stressed.
There are 275 vaccine storage points, nine walk-in coolers, five ice-lined refrigerators, 700 deep freezers, and 5,505 cold boxes for storing vials.
Currently, the vaccination drive is underway four days a week—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Thursdays and Saturdays have been set aside for other immunisation work. Sunday is a holiday.