M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, April 4: Vaccination of teens in the age group of 12 to 14 is going down the hill over the past few days in Palamu commissionerate comprising three districts Latehar, Garhwa and Palamu.
Latehar recorded a poor record of vaccination on April 3 when it finished only 20 which meant it used only 1 vial of Corbevax vaccine.
Latehar Civil surgeon Dr Haren Chandra Mahto conceded that April 3 proved a poor day for the vaccination of the eligible teens. He said that the festival mood and closures of schools have compounded the problem.
Latehar is busy holding its establishment day also and this may be a distraction from the vaccination. There are 10 blocks in the Latehar district where except for Mahuadanr all the 9 blocks had zero vaccination of eligible teens on April 3.
Meanwhile, the Garhwa district had to settle with 149 vaccinations of eligible teens on April 3. Garhwa Civil Surgeon Dr Kamlesh Kumar said, “We are trying to stabilize our vaccination rate.”
“We have a large-scale Sarhul festivity in three or four blocks namely Bhandarya, Badgad, Ranka, Chiniya where we fear vaccination may not take off well till the festivity is over,” he added.
On the other hand, Palamu continues to struggle as it is far below its previous vaccination performance.
Palamu could do just 110 vaccinations on April 3 when it has 21 blocks. Sources said had even just one vial of Corbevax been opened in each of the 21 blocks the number of vaccination of eligible teens would have been 400 plus on April 3 when it is a dismal 110 vaccination.
Sources said a kind of laxity has gripped health officials here in Palamu who believe there is none to question their performance.
Sources said that from block programme managers down to district programme managers vaccination is now a dull monotonous job resulting in poor performance.
Palamu Civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar said he is trying to motivate and accelerate his team to perform well in front of the vaccination.
Latehar has a target of 35,000 teens’ vaccination, Garhwa 65,000+ and Palamu 95,000+ but with this speed, it will be winter season when teens’ vaccination can be expected to be over.
