The Jharkhand government on Tuesday launched 60 “Vaccine Express” vehicles under the joint initiative of Care India and the health department to speed up the Covid-19 vaccination campaign.

The 60 vehicles would be distributed among all 24 districts based on their size and vaccination rate and would function under the respective deputy commissioners and civil surgeons.

After flagging off the vehicles in Ranchi, chief minister Hemant Soren said: “The objective is to reach out to vulnerable people residing in inaccessible areas and those persons who are still left out of the vaccination campaign. The Vaccine Express would provide vaccine to targeted populations at their homes itself.”

Praising the health department’s vaccination campaign, Soren said: “Till now more than 1.70 crore people across the state have received the first dose of vaccine and over 40 lakh have also received the second dose. We have been constantly devising new campaigns to vaccinate a maximum portion of the population as it is the only way to fight against Covid infection.”

The chief minister appealed to the people to abide by Covid-appropriate behaviour despite a decrease in cases across the state, as the danger of a third wave is still present.

Care India state programme manager Abhay Bhagat said each of the 60 “Vaccine Express” vehicles would have two ANMs (auxiliary nurse midwife — a village-level female health worker) and one data entry operator and would be used by respective district administrations to reach out to those areas which have reported low vaccination rates so far.

“It (Vaccine Express) is especially for vulnerable groups like migrant workers, vendors who are frequently on the move and do not go to vaccination camps and also for elderly and disabled who are not mobile-savvy to register for slots for vaccines,” said Bhagat.

The programme was also attended by health minister Banna Gupta and additional chief secretary-cum-principal secretary, health, Arun Kumar Singh.

The state had rolled out a mobile vaccination campaign for urban areas in May this year but it could reach an area only if the targeted location has more than 20 beneficiaries.