With the decline in the trend of the second wave of Covid 19, the main objective of administrators right now is to vaccinate the complete population while following the necessary protocols. During the same time, many innovative initiatives are being taken in different parts of the country. These include the administration taking proactive steps, such as reaching out to the people in need.
In the Mohali district of Punjab, which is famous for hosting international cricket matches, a need-based door-to-door vaccination drive has been started. The brainchild of this initiative, IAS officer Mr. Girish Dalayan, is at present serving as DC of Mohali and is providing vaccination at the doorstep of people who are old, infirm, and disabled.
THE PROCESS
As the initiative focuses on providing aid to the people who face difficulties in reaching the vaccination centres, the administration in Mohali has deployed subdivision-wise ambulances for taking the jabs to people’s doorsteps.
For this, people who fall in the category to avail the benefit have to fill a Google form with all the required details like name, address and contact information, etc. Apart from this, there is a pre-condition to this facility- which is that a minimum of ten people has to get vaccinated from the same site to avoid vaccine wastage.
“It is mandatory to vaccinate 10 people at a time as ten dosages are available per vial and once it is opened for use, it cannot be preserved for further use,” said Mr. Dayalan.
EXTENDING SERVICE TO OTHERS
Apart from the old, infirm, and disabled people, the district administration of Mohali is also extending the door-to-door vaccination service to women as well. The same conditions also hold for them as well, such as the presence of 10 women beneficiaries for vaccination at a particular site.
The DC said, “Though our top priority is elderly and disabled, but for the ease of people, if a Residents Welfare Association (RWA) seeks home-vaccination but does not have sufficient number of senior citizens, they will be provided the service on the condition that at least half of the total number of people to be vaccinated are 60 years old or more, disabled and the remaining can be anyone over 18 years of age.”
VACCINATION DRIVE IN MOHALI
Since the vaccination drive started earlier this year, the Mohali district administration has given jabs to around 12 percent of its total eligible population. Around 5,39,014 (72.5%) have received the first dose of the Covid 19 vaccine and around 88,000 have been fully vaccinated with both doses.
Out of the total 6,26,542 people who have been vaccinated here, the maximum people are from 18-45 years of age bracket, followed by 45-60 years and then the senior citizens. Notably, out of the total number, 3,76,427 beneficiaries are men and 2,50,056 women. Among the population covered so far, 5,44,908 have received Covishield and 79,901 Covaxin.