Udupi administration begins precautionary dose drive for elderly

The Udupi district administration has taken up Lasika Mitra 2.0 drive to visit houses and administer COVID-19 vaccine, more so to those aged 60 and above who are yet to receive the precautionary dose.

The district administration had undertaken similar drive as part of ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ and administered first and second doses to those aged above 18 years.

“With the elderly facing the risk of getting infected during the likely fourth wave of COVID-19, we are concentrating on administering precautionary dose to this group,” said District Health and Family Welfare Officer Nagabhushan Udupa. Precautionary doses are also being administered free of cost to healthcare workers and frontline workers under Lasika Mitra 2.0, Dr. Udupa added.

By administering the first dose to 10.04 lakh persons aged above 18-years, the Udupi district has reached 100.55% of the target. Of them, 9.98 lakh have received the second dose accounting to 99.94% of the target. In the 15-18 year category, 49186 (91.84%) have received the first dose, while 47906 (89.45%) received the second dose. In the 12-14 age category, 33583 received the first dose (108.56%) and 27113 (87.65%) received second dose.

As many as 15,750 health care workers, 4,316 frontline workers and 63,044 senior citizens have received the precautionary dose so far, Dr. Udupa said.

During the present drive which is to be conducted till July-end, the Accredited Social Health Activists who will visit every household would also administer the first and the second doses to the 12-18 year age category besides providing the precautionary doses to the targetted groups. They would also convince those aged beyond 18, who were yet to take the precautionary dose, to get the same at the nearby private healthcare facility for a fee explaining its advantages, he said.

In public places namely the railway stations, bus stand and ports, the district administration would hold vaccine awareness campaign and vaccination camps. In villages, panchayat president and members would be involved in identification those who have missed out on vaccine and vaccination camps would be organised. Mobile vaccination facility would be deployed to vaccinate senior citizens, who are bedridden.

Source : The Hindu