Doorstep vax drive starts for 15-17 group, booster recipients

Gurgaon: The health department on Tuesday included children in the 15-17 age bracket and recipients over 60 who are eligible for the booster dose in its door-to-door vaccination drive to increase vaccine coverage in the city and strengthen its firewall against the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
The department also plans to set up vaccination camps targeting children in more schools in rural areas and additional ones in religious places and market areas for both age groups.
Gurgaon has administered first doses to 86,970 children in the 15-17 age group since January 3. It, however, has a target of covering 1.51 lakh children. On the other hand, it has administered 14,924 booster doses since January 10.
With the daily cases increasing in the district, speeding up the vaccination of the two groups in focus has become an administrative priority. “We have included the 15-17 age group and eligible booster recipients in our door-step vaccination plan. We will be organising camps in every village as per the data, focusing on children between 15-17 years. We are also mapping out schools in rural areas where vaccination camps have not come up. Also, we will deploy mobile vans in the areas where children can not visit schools due to a lack of last-mile connectivity,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon.
Additionally, the administration will set up vaccination camps in the local weekly market areas. “We will also hold vaccination camps for the children and the people above 60 who have completed nine months after their second jab at all religious places, including temples, churches, madrasas and gurudwaras, across Gurgaon on Sunday, January 23,” said Yadav.
However, people who had Covid infection after their second dose, Yadav said, would have to wait another nine months to take the booster.
Meanwhile, a team of auxiliary nursing midwives (ANM) and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers will visit 100 houses daily to get data on the vaccination coverage of their respective blocks. The mobile vaccination teams will use this data to carry out a door-to-door drive.
When asked how Gurgaon planned to increase the pace of vaccination for children in the urban areas, Yadav said, “We are planning to hold drive-ins, especially for the 15-17 age group, and also, for people who are eligible for the booster."
On Monday, 2,100 people in the 15-17 age group got vaccinated in Gurgaon while 9,425 people in the 18-44 group, 1,202 people between 45-59 years and 1,641 people aged above 60 got their jabs, too. A total of 198 healthcare workers and 295 frontline workers also got inoculated. On the eighth day of the booster vaccination drive, 1,723 recipients got the precautionary dose.
Talking about the other districts in the state, Rajeev Arora, ACS (health), Haryana, said, “As each district has its target and issues, the booster delivery and 15-17 group vaccination are not included in the door-to-door drive yet. Already, we have completed 50% of our target for the 15-17 age group in Haryana,” said Rajeev Arora, ACS (health), Haryana.With a target of vaccinating 15.43 lakh children in the 15-17 group, Haryana, so far, has administered only 7.82 lakh doses to this group.
A senior state health official said that all the districts had got directions to undertake initiatives to increase the pace of vaccination. “Districts can decide their strategy depending on their target,” said the official.