New Delhi: In a significant development, the Centre said on Thursday that specially-abled and people with special needs may get Covid-19 vaccines at home under medical supervision.
"We have issued instructions to all States and UTs in this regard and accordingly instructed them that necessary steps should be taken so that no one is left behind as far as vaccination is concerned," said Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in New Delhi.
Health Secretary Bhushan has recently written a letter to health secretaries of all States and UTs advising them to prepare a list of potential beneficiaries and their caregivers. The letter also stated that those beneficiaries may get inoculated at their residences using mobile vaccination teams.
Bhushan informed that India completed more than 83 crore vaccination with 61.85 crore people receiving the first dose and 21.55 crore people receiving the second dose. He said that 66 per cent of India's adult population got the first dose and 23 per cent got the second dose. States like Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sikkim completed 100 per cent vaccination of the first dose.
Significantly, 45.75 crores rural population already got their Covid-19 vaccine doses whereas 25.42 urban population got inoculated. In rural areas, 39.72 crore females got inoculated and 43.39 crore males got vaccinated.
As the festive season is ahead, the Health Ministry issued Standard Operating Procedure to all States and UTs to strictly adhere Covid appropriate behaviour. It should be noted that there are 3.09 lakh active cases and daily cases reported now are as high as 30,000.
As per the SOP, all districts with test positivity of more than 10 per cent in the last one week or bed occupancy of more than 60 per cent including oxygen supported or ICU beds will come under the containment zone. "No mass gathering should be allowed in areas identified as containment zones and in districts reporting more than five per cent case positivity," the SOP said.
The central government has identified festivals like Navaratri, Dusshera, Eid-e-Milad, Karva Chauth, Diwali, Govardhan Puja, Bhai Dooj, Chhath Puja, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Christmas and New Year's Eve during which people need to maintain Covid appropriate behaviour.
While speaking to media on the current Covid-19 situation in India, Bhushan said that private vaccination centres were able to utilize six per cent of the allowed vaccines and the rest have been administered by government vaccination centres across the country. Bhushan said that India's Covid-19 recovery rate has reached 97.8 per cent.
The health secretary also expressed concern that Kerala is the only state with more than one lakh active cases at present and five other states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have been reporting more than 10,000 to 50,000 active cases.
Kerala still contributes 62.73 per cent of India's total Covid caseload. There are 33 districts in six States which are reporting more than 10 per cent weekly positivity. At the same time, 23 districts in 12 States are reporting weekly positive between 5 to 10 percent.
Meanwhile, referring to vaccine for children, Dr Balram Bhargava, director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research said that Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is in the final stage and once it is done, the proposal will be sent to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use.
On the other hand, Dr VK Paul, member of Niti Aayog said that talks are on with ZydusCadila for pricing of the vaccine whereas talks are on with Pfizer and Modern on the issue of indemnity. It may be mentioned here that WHO's strategic advisory group of experts on immunisation (SAGE) will be meeting on October 5 for granting Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Covaxin.
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