What Modi Told DMs of 40 Districts, Including 5 From Maha, 6 from Arunachal, About ‘Going Lax’ in Vaccination

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held a review meeting with district magistrates of over 40 districts having low COVID-19 vaccination coverage. The meeting, held via video conferencing, included districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of vaccine.

The 40 districts are spread across Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Meghalaya.

Also Read: ‘Work on Innovative Methods, Use Religious Leaders’: PM’s Advice to Scale Up Vaccination

A total of six districts in Arunachal Pradesh have reported a low coverage of both first and second doses. These include Kra Daadi, Kurung Kumey, Upper Subansiri, Kamle, Lower Subansiri and East Kameng districts.

In Jharkhand, district magistrates of eight districts — Pakur, Sahebganj, Garhwa, Deoghar, West Singbhum, Giridih, Godda and Latehar – were part of the meeting with PM Modi.

In Assam, only one district, South Salmara, featured in the list. Other states where only one district has witnessed less than 50 per cent coverage of Covid-19 vaccine include Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh, Nuh in Haryana, Lawngtlai in Mizoram and Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu. The only district to have featured in the list from the national capital is North West Delhi.

District Magistrates of five districts of Maharashtra, namely Aurangabad, Nandurbar, Buldhana, Hingoli and Akola, also part of the meeting with the prime minister to discuss ways to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination,

From Manipur, Kangpokpi, Ukhrul, Kamjong, Senapati, Pherzwal, Tamenglong, Noney and Tengnoupal districts have reported low numbers and in Meghalaya, three areas — West Khasi Hills, South Garo Hills and West Jaintia Hills – have reported low vaccine coverage

In Nagaland, DMs from Kiphire, Tuensang, Phek, Peren, Mon, Wokha, Zunheboto and Longleng districts were part of the meeting

The prime minister decided to hold this meeting immediately upon his return from abroad after attending the G20 and COP26 meetings.

“Progress made so far is due to your hardwork. Every member of administration, ASHA workers worked a lot, walked for miles and took vaccination to remote locations. But if we become lax after 1 Billion, a new crisis can come,” Modi said at a review meeting.

In this biggest pandemic in 100 years, he pointed out, the country faced several challenges. “A significant thing in nation’s fight against Corona was that we found out new solutions, used innovative methods. You too will have to work more on innovative methods to increase vaccination in your areas.”

Highlighting the need to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had recently said that there are more than 10.34 crore people in the country who have not taken the second dose of vaccine after the expiry of the prescribed interval.

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