Jharkhand has failed to achieve even 50 per cent of its daily Covid-19 vaccination target in the first half of November despite several efforts made by the health department to increase the number of jabs administered to eligible beneficiaries, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted on Tuesday.

In mid-October, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Arun Kumar Singh had, in a letter to concerned, said that the state had set a target of administering at least 3 lakh Covid-19 vaccines daily. Singh also directed officials to make arrangements for speeding up the vaccination process across the state.

However, as per figures compiled by the health department, Jharkhand managed to vaccinate about 1 lakh residents daily on an average since November 1. On Monday, about 1.4 lakh residents were administered jabs.

Officials spearheading the immunisation drive against Covid-19 said that the festive season coupled with several wedding ceremonies during the past 15 days or so was responsible for the low turnout.

“People were usually reluctant to get vaccinated ahead of family gatherings or marriage functions at home fearing side effects,” said an NHM official. “We are running door-to-door vaccination campaigns and making all possible efforts to increase the number of daily jabs, but the turnout of beneficiaries at vaccination sites has been on the lower side this month,” he added.

As per government data, of the 2.41 crore vaccine beneficiaries in the state, about 64.94 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine, while about 28.87 per cent of the vaccine beneficiaries have also received the second jab. The state has so far administered over 2.21 crore vaccine doses.

Officials of at least eight of 24 Jharkhand districts had to attend a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 3 as these districts failed to administer the first dose of vaccine to 60 per cent of the eligible beneficiaries.

Out of these eight districts, only two had managed to administer the first dose of vaccine to over 60 per cent of the eligible population by Tuesday.

First Covid death in November

Jharkhand reported its first Covid-19 casualty of this month on Monday as a Deoghar resident suffering from the viral infection died during treatment, taking the Covid toll in the state to 5139, as per NHM data. The last Covid casualty in the state was reported around mid-October, health officials said.