Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held a review meeting with district magistrates of 40 districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and low coverage of the second dose of vaccine. The meeting, held via video conferencing, covered 40 districts spread across Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, among others.
The district magistrates gave an account of the issues and challenges being faced in their districts which has resulted in low vaccination coverage. Modi discussed a wide array of ideas that can be implemented for ensuring 100 per cent vaccination coverage in these districts, a release from the Prime Minister's Office said.
The prime minister, in his address, announced the mantra of 'Har Ghar Dastak', in which every household lacking the security net of a double dose of vaccines will be approached.
"In this biggest epidemic of 100 years, the country has faced many challenges. One special thing in the country's fight against Corona was that we found new solutions, tried innovative methods. You will also have to work more on new innovative ways to increase vaccination in your districts," he said.
"Just a few days ago, I also met Pope Francis at the Vatican. We will also have to lay special emphasis on taking the message of religious leaders on vaccines to the public. One challenge is also rumor and confusion among people," he added.
Modi also asked the officials to develop micro strategies, keeping in mind the experience so far, to go for saturation of vaccination by addressing the gaps at local level.
"A great solution to this is to make people more and more aware. You can also take more help from local religious leaders in this. If you want to make a different strategy for each village, each town in your districts, then make them too. You can also do this by forming a team of 20-25 people, depending on the region. You can also try to have a healthy competition in the teams that you have formed," he said.
Highlighting the need to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had recently said that more than 10.34 crore people in the country have not taken the second dose of vaccine after the expiry of the prescribed interval.
With the administration of 52,39,444 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 106.85 crore as per provisional reports till 7 am on Tuesday, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.