From airports to bus stops: How India scaled up Covid-19 vaccinations in a 75-day-campaign

Coverage of coronavirus precaution dose scaled up from 8 per cent to 27 per cent among 18 years and above during the 75-day-long ‘COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava’, central government said on Friday.

“More than 76.18 lakh first dose, 2.35 crore second dose and 15.92 crore precaution dose have been administered in this period of 75 days. More than 24.73 lakh doses per day have been administered including 20.68 lakh doses precaution dose per day,” union health ministry said in a statement.

“At the start of COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava on 15th July 2022, only 8 per cent of the eligible population aged 18 years and above had received the Precaution Dose. With the intervention of 75 days long free vaccination campaign, 27 per cent of the eligible population has now received their precaution dose,” it said.

The ambitious 75 days long ‘COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava’ that concluded on Friday was started on 15th July 2022 in a ‘mission mode’ in which special COVID vaccination drives were organized by all States and UTs to increase uptake for the Precaution Dose of COVID Vaccine among the eligible adult population. The government covered persons aged 18 years and above who have completed 6 months or 26 weeks after the second dose.

In 75 days, across all states and UTs, 11,104 camps were organised at bus stations, 5,664 camps at railway stations, 511 camps at airports, over 1,50,004 camps at various schools and colleges, 4,451 camps at routes of religious yatras, and over 11,30,044 camps were organized at various private and government workplaces and industrial establishments.

Under the COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsava, all States and UTs were urged to run the campaign as a ‘Jan Abhiyan’ with massive mass mobilisation, through a camp approach. Multiple special vaccination camps in the routes of Char Dham Yatra (Uttarakhand), Amarnath Yatra (Jammu & Kashmir), Kanwar Yatra (all States/UTs of North-India) as well as major Melas and congregations were organised.

Further, Special Vaccination Camps were organised at office complexes, industrial establishments, railway stations, inter-state bus stations, in schools and colleges. A total of 13,01,778 such camps were organised for free COVID vaccination.

“Administration of Precaution Dose is pivotal to confer full/extended protection to beneficiaries against Covid-19. It helps to reduce the severity of the COVID-19 disease, risk of hospitalization and thereby reduces mortality,” said the government.

Meanwhile, India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed 218.66 crore on Friday. At least 3,947 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. India’s Active Caseload currently stands at 39,583. Active cases now constitute 0.09 per cent of the country's total Positive Cases, as per the union health ministry data. Weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 1.44 per cent and the Daily Positivity rate is reported to be 1.23 per cent, shows the data.