India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said COVID-19 vaccines should now be taken to the doorsteps of the people, and that equal focus should be on the second dose.
To expand the vaccination campaign, Modi suggested that religious leaders and youth organisations such as National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme also be part of the drive.
Several states, including Maharashtra, have been asking the federal government to allow door-door vaccination, especially for people who are ailing or otherwise unable to visit vaccination centres.
At a virtual meeting of Chief Ministers and officials of states where the vaccine coverage is less than 50 per cent, Modi said: “Till now all of you have made arrangements for taking the people to vaccination centres. Now vaccines should be taken to every door, there should be door-to-door vaccine.”.
He urged the health workers to reach every house with passion ‘har ghar tika, ghar ghar tika’ [Vaccine at every doorstep}. He also asked to go in the spirit of ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ knocking on every doorstep to ensure full vaccination. “Now we are preparing to take the vaccination campaign to each household. With the mantra of ‘Har Ghar Dastak’, knock on every door, every household lacking the security net of a double dose of vaccine will be approached” he said.
The Prime Minister cautioned that while knocking on every house, equal attention needed to be paid to the second dose as well as the first dose. Because whenever the cases of infections start decreasing, sometimes the feeling of urgency decreases. The urgency in administering the vaccines comes down among the people. “You will have to contact those people who have not taken the second dose despite the stipulated time on a priority basis...ignoring this has created problems for many countries in the world” he alerted.
The Prime Minister emphasised that under the ‘free vaccine for all campaign’, India created a record of administering about 25 million vaccine doses in a day, this feat bears testimony to India’s capabilities, he said. He asked the district officials to learn from good practices of their colleagues in better-performing districts and emphasised approaches suitable for the local needs and the environment should be adopted.
Now the motto is ‘Every home vaccine, door-to-door vaccine’. We have to reach every house with this spirit, the Prime Minister said.
“We have to focus on every village, every town. If you have to make a different strategy for each village, do it... you can form teams of 25 people. You can also take help of NCC and NSS. We have to make more and more people aware,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister touched upon the issue of rumours and misunderstanding about vaccination. He suggested awareness is the only solution for this and asked the state officials to take help from the religious leaders. The Prime Minister noted that religious leaders are very enthusiastic about the vaccination campaign. PM Modi recalled his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, a few days ago. He urged for a special emphasis on taking the message of religious leaders on vaccines to the public.
