Low turn out for vaccination shotsNeed to do more

4,87,571 out of 19.85 lakh is a low 24.5 percent of people who have received their Covid vaccination. This was as recent as June 18. And out of these 4.87 lakh people only 82,027 people have received their second jab. This works out to only 16.82 percent of the total eligible people who can be said to be fully vaccinated against coronavirus. The extremely low percentage of people in the ‘second shot’ bracket may be due to the decision to increase the gap in the number of days between the two shots, but definitely the turn out for the vaccination jabs is something which seriously needs to be studied. The Government must be under severe pressure from all sides to deal with the pandemic, but the low turn out for the vaccination jabs certainly needs a thorough and intensive study to see where to plug loopholes, if any. There is a reason why the Centre has done away with the earlier stipulation that those in the age group of 18 and 44 must first register with the CoWIN and now anyone within the said age group can walk in at the counter and get themselves registered. Such a move will go a long way in easing the process for getting the vaccination jabs. Moreover net connectivity is not the same all over the place and while those staying at say Imphal will have easier access to the net, the same may not be for people staying at say Ukhrul district. And moreover not all are net savvy to register themselves on a portal. This is an example from the Centre which the State Government may study to pull people out for the vaccination jab. Studies conducted to show that those who have received the jab have much lower chances of developing complications even if they do get infected, should be highlighted. A reality which can have a direct bearing on the number of daily deaths due to the virus. Get vaccinated, stay safe and make oneself and others safer, may be added as the punchline while showing with statistics and examples that those who have received the vaccination shots have much lower chances of developing severe complications.
Some independent newspaper houses have already conducted such a comparative analysis and there should be no reason why the Government cannot do this. Other than this, the one day media sensitisation programme on Covid vaccination could not have come at a more opportune moment, but one wished that  something more elaborate on the Delta variant of the virus had been spelt out. The number of samples sent to study the variant of those who have tested positive is welcome but it would have helped so much more if some details had been spelt out on why there is a call now to even wear the face mask inside one’s own house. While this undoubtedly says that the Delta variant is much more contagious and statistics have shown that cases of all family members testing positive have gone up, the media sensitisation could have dwelt more on how the virus spreads within the confines of one’s own home. One hopes that the COVID-19 Control Room has taken a leaf out of the workshop and spell out how many of the total who have received their vaccination jabs  have got their second vaccination during their daily update to the media.