Har Ghar Dastak: Two-month Long Campaign to Accelerate Pace of Covid-19 Vaccination Starts

The second leg of the Har Ghar Dastak initiative to accelerate the pace and coverage of COVID-19 vaccination commenced across the country on Wednesday and will see focused campaigns being undertaken in old age homes, schools, colleges and prisons. Incorporating the experience and learning from the first round of the campaign launched in November 2021, the second round will be implemented from June 1 to July 31. Being implemented in a ‘Mission Mode’, states and UTs have been advised to give an intensive push towards full COVID-19 vaccination coverage by vaccinating all eligible beneficiaries, a Health Ministry statement said.

The objective of the ‘Har Ghar Dastak 2.0’ Abhiyan is to vaccinate and cover the eligible population groups for first, second and precaution doses through door-to-door campaigns. “Major focus will also remain on improving sub-optimal coverage of persons aged = 60 years with precaution dose, along with considerably slower speed of coverage in the 12-14 years cohort by focussed campaigns for old age homes, schools/colleges including the out-of-school children (for focussed coverage of children aged 12-18 years population), prisons, brick kilns, etc,” the statement said. States and UTs have been urged to undertake effective monitoring with respective micro-plans based on due-lists of all eligible beneficiaries, the statement said.

They were also urged to review administration of precaution dose to 18-59 years age group with private hospitals on a regular basis. The national COVID-19 vaccination drive has witnessed unparalleled achievement due to detailed planning and robust efforts by the government, the statement stated.

So far, 193.57 crore doses have been administered across the country. According to the Health Ministry data, 96.3 per cent of all persons above 15 years of age have received at least one dose and 86.3 per cent have received both the doses of COVID-19 vaccine. The campaign has been inspired by the successful strategy of Mission Indradhanush which included mobilisation, awareness and vaccination activities for reaching out to all the missed out and dropped out eligible beneficiaries of first and second dose through house-to-house visits.

The initiative contributed immensely towards the success of the programme by reaching out to the last mile beneficiaries including the elderly, differently-abled and even the vaccine hesitant population, the statement said.

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