Health officials launch door-to-door jab drive for first and second dose

Mysuru: The Mysuru District Health Department, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), Self Help Groups and other volunteers have launched a door-to-door campaign to vaccinate a large number of unvaccinated people in the city and also in the district.

What is seen as a worrying factor under the imminent threat of COVID third wave is that there are over 2 lakh people who have not taken their second dose and have crossed the 84-day gap between the first and second dose. There seems to be reluctance to take the vaccines assuming that the first dose is more than enough to combat the killer disease.

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, District Health Officer Dr. K.H. Prasad said that there are currently 2 lakh beneficiaries in Mysuru District and 1 lakh beneficiaries in Mysuru city, who have not taken the second dose of the vaccine even though the time of prescribed interval between the first and the second dose has already passed. “We have achieved a District average of 89 percent for the first dose and 55 percent for the second dose. We want to make it 100 percent,” he said.

“Vaccination coverage is not enough. The cost of people opting not to get vaccinated has the potential to cause a new outbreak. If people decide not to get vaccinated due to hesitancy and doubts, the potential for new outbreaks of COVID-19 remains very high. New variants of SARS-CoV-2 are sprouting, which might be more transmissible and resistant to vaccines,” he said.

The District Administration is focusing on ensuring that the two dose coverage continues to rise and that pockets where vaccination efforts might not have yet reached adequately are reached out, including continuing to address concerns about the vaccine and vaccination efforts.

MCC officials said that due to the festival season, even those scheduled to take the second shot have kept away. “We are calling up people, we are surveying housing colonies and slums to find out people who have delayed their second dose and so we have made mobile centres available,” said Dr. Prasad.

In all, 65 mobile teams have been formed and 65 static teams have been stationed in each MCC ward and there are 600 teams in the district for the door-to-door drive. MCC Commissioner has given 70 vehicles for the campaign and 260 staff, volunteers, Corporators, local health centre staff and Self Help Groups are involved in the task, he added.

“There is absolutely no shortage of vaccines for the door-to-door vaccination drive as the production and supply are as per the target. Vaccine availability is no longer an issue. The issue is to ensure maximum coverage at the earliest,” Dr. Prasad said.

MCC officials said that there are several demographics that have not been able to access the vaccination drive due to various reasons. Daily wage workers, for instance, have not been able to go to vaccination centres for the fear of losing out on a day’s work and therefore that day’s pay.