The Jharkhand government distributed more than 2 lakh vaccine doses among the 24 districts in the state on Friday to launch the immunisation programme against Covid-19 for residents in the age bracket of 18 to 44 years, officials from the National Health Mission (NHM) said.
At least nine districts – Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Garhwa, Giridih, Hazaribag, Palamu and West Singhbhum – have been provided around 10,000 doses each for this phase of the vaccination drive, health officials said. Besides, about eight districts have been provided around 5,000 doses each, while the remaining seven districts have been given over 2,000 doses each.
“The districts have been asked to make arrangements for vaccination centres and other infrastructural requirements depending on the population of beneficiaries,” said state immunisation officer Dr Ajit Prasad. “The vaccination programme for residents in the age bracket of 18 to 44 years will begin in all the 24 districts tomorrow (Friday),” he added.
In Ranchi, the district administration will launch this phase of immunisation in 10 vaccination centres, five each in rural and urban areas, officials said. In urban Ranchi, jabs will be administered at ATI Hostel, Seventh Day Adventist School in Bariatu, Women’s College on Ciruclar Road, Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav College in Kokar and St. Xavier’s School in Doranda.
Eligible residents will have to register for the vaccination via Co-Win website or mobile app and book a slot for themselves at the nearest vaccination centre. Vaccine jabs will not be administered to anyone who turns up at the vaccination centres without prior registration through online platforms, a statement from the Ranchi district administration read.
Registration through the Co-Win platform was not mandatory during the earlier phases of vaccination for people above the age of 45 years and senior citizens in Jharkhand. Many vaccination centres directly administered jabs to the eligible beneficiaries if they turned up at the vaccination centre with their Adhaar cards. However, this time around, the only way beneficiaries can get the jabs is through online registration, health officials said on Wednesday.
Jharkhand now has around 2.34 lakh doses of vaccine for beneficiaries in the age bracket of 18 years to 44 years at present.
As per details shared by the government, the state has provided 16,140 vaccine doses to Ranchi, 32,340 to Giridih, 39,910 to Dumka, 9,640 to East Singhbhum, around 39,000 to
Palamau and 23,000 to Dhanbad. Over 14,000 doses were provided to Chatra and more than 26,000 to Hazaribagh.
Health Minister Banna Gupta had requested Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday to allow offline registration for the jabs in some rural areas of Jharkhand citing intermittent or poor internet and mobile network coverage. “Some far flung villages in our state still do not have the right infrastructure for smooth internet and mobile connectivity, so people living in those areas will find it difficult to register online. I have asked the Union minister to allow offline registration in such areas of Jharkhand,” Gupta said.
As per data available with the state government, about 1.57 crore beneficiaries are withing 18 to 44 years in Jharkhand. A press communique from the health minister earlier stated that Jharkhand had asked for 25 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin from the manufacturers. The state, as per the communique, was ready with 2,229 vaccination centres to carry out immunisation of residents in that age bracket.
Jharkhand did not launch the immunisation programme for beneficiaries in the age bracket of 18 years to 44 years on May 1 citing unavailability of vaccine doses.
