Jharkhand has prepared a roadmap to vaccinate at least 3 lakh residents against Covid-19 every day, a target set by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under an intensive campaign aimed at covering the maximum possible eligible beneficiaries in the state, including the ones staying in remote forest areas, officials said on Sunday.

In a letter addressed to deputy commissioners of all 24 districts in the state, additional chief secretary (health) Arun Kumar Singh stated that Jharkhand was given a target of inoculating at least three lakh beneficiaries daily following a virtual meeting with Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

The districts will have to do “micro-planning” in order to achieve the daily vaccination target, and take initiatives to identify and bring eligible beneficiaries to the nearest vaccination centre, Singh said in his letter, a copy of which is in possession of The Telegraph Online.

In order to vaccinate forest dwellers and residents of remote villages, districts have been directed to prepare a route chart for mobile vaccination vans, that would travel to the interiors and vaccinate people there, the letter stated. There are about 60 such mobile vaccination vans in the state at present.

“Set a separate vaccination target for hard-to-reach areas of the state and ensure the availability of mobile vaccination vans for running immunisation campaigns in such areas,” Singh wrote in his letter, further directing officials at the panchayat level to prepare a list of beneficiaries for special weekend vaccination drives on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Singh asked districts to seek the help of Self Help Groups under Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) and civil society organisations to increase the reach of the immunisation drive. According to Singh’s letter, special Block Level Task Force (BLTF) will be set up to manage the campaign.

“Learn from the vaccination campaigns run in the past, and also take help of private healthcare facilities if needed,” the letter stated.

As per government records, Jharkhand has administered the first dose of vaccine to more than 1.4 crore residents, and at least 44 lakh of them have also received the second jab.

However, the state has never vaccinated more than 3 lakh residents on a day since the launch of the immunisation campaign against Covid-19 on January 16. On September 1, Jharkhand vaccinated over 2.05 lakh residents, the highest ever in a day, as per government records.