Har Ghar Dastak: Centre to launch mega Covid-19 vaccination drive today

Last week, following a Covid-19 review meeting with the state governments, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed the launch of ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign to ramp up vaccination.

More than 106.79 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered in India so far with over 47 lakh shots given on Monday itself. 

What is ‘Har Ghar Dastak’? 

Under the campaign, healthcare workers will go door-to-door to vaccinate eligible candidates. The month-long door-to-door vaccination campaign is aimed towards full vaccination in poor-performing districts.

“We are going to launch a mega vaccination campaign ‘Har Ghar Dastak’. We have decided that for the next one month, healthcare workers will go door-to-door to vaccinate people eligible for the second dose and also those who have not taken the first dose,” said Mandaviya.

The minister informed on Monday that 78% of India’s eligible population has been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 38% have received both shots.

Later he took to Twitter to say, “An extraordinary feat of an extraordinary nation! India has administered 1st COVID-19 vaccine dose to 78 per cent of the eligible population and 2nd dose to 38 per cent of the eligible people. Congratulations to all as we rapidly progress on our path to defeat the virus!”

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

(With inputs from agencies)