At 37% & 47%, Not Even Half of Frontline and Health Workers Have Been Fully Vaccinated So Far: Report

Amid rising Covid-19 cases, reports suggest that only 37 percent frontline workers have been fully inoculated so far.

According to a report by The Times of India, against the target of 3 crore, an additional of around 91 lakh frontline workers have got only the first dose.

If the number of registered health and frontline workers is considered, the coverage of those fully vaccinated rises to 47 per cent, which is still less than half.

Officials told TOI that many states had not been able to mobilise this priority population, resulting in the slow pace of vaccination during the initial phase.

Overall, 12.26 crore doses were administered till 7 am on Sunday. Over 10.8 lakh people between 45 and 60 and 38.9 lakh above 60 have been fully vaccinated with two doses.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held a meeting to review the preparedness of public health response to Covid-19 as cases continue to spike at an alarming rate across the country. Installation of approved medical oxygen plants should be sped up, he directed the officials adding that the entire national capacity must be put to use to ramp up the vaccine production.

Directing officials to ensure close coordination with states, he said all necessary measures must be taken to ramp up the availability of hospital beds for COVID patients and that additional supply of beds through temporary hospitals and isolation centres should be ensured. He also spoke about a need to utilise the full potential of India’s pharmaceutical industry to meet the rising demand of various medicines and reviewed the status of the supply of Remdesivir and other medicines. On the issue of vaccination, the prime minister directed all officials to make efforts to utilize the entire national capacity, in the public as well as the private sector, to ramp up vaccine production.

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