Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a review meeting on Wednesday with senior officials from at least 40 districts that are seeing a significant lag in Covid-19 vaccination for adults, according to people familiar with the development.
During the review meeting, which will also be attended by several chief ministers, the Prime Minister will interact with district magistrates (DMs) representing districts where less than 50% of the adult population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, and also those ones that have very low second-dose numbers, officials said.
According to government data, a total of 48 districts are seeing a lag in vaccination coverage as they are yet to administer even a single shot to more than half of their adult population at a time when the national average for such coverage is around 78%.
At least 38% of the country’s population has received the second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
“Immediately after returning to the country after attending the G20 summit and COP26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a review meeting with districts having low vaccination coverage, on November 3 at noon via video conferencing. The meeting will include districts with less than 50% coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of Covid vaccine,” according to an official statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office last Sunday.
“The Prime Minister will interact with district magistrates of over 40 districts in Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, and several other states with districts having low [Covid-19] vaccination coverage. Chief ministers of these states will also be present on the occasion,” the statement said.
To speed up the second-dose coverage, the Centre has asked the states to take up door-to-door vaccination campaigns.