The Centre on Wednesday directed the states to focus on enhancing the second dose coverage of school teachers and staff in both government and private sectors. The Union Health Ministry said more than two crore additional vaccine doses will be dispatched to the states between August 27 and August 31 to vaccinate school teachers and non-teaching staff.
“States/UTs may use UDISE (Unified District Information System of Education) data and co-ordinate with State Education Departments, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathanetc. providing necessary fillip to this vaccination programme,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Centre's direction came during a high-level meeting chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to review the progress of COVID-19 vaccination in the country.
Bhushan cautioned the states regarding a possible spike in Covid cases during the upcoming festival season and advised them to undertake all possible public health measures to curb this. He cited the example of Kerala where a visible rise of cases has been registered over the past week post Onam.
The health secretary stressed on having a definite district level plan to increase coverage of second dose. “States were advised to undertake targeted strategies like earmarking specific days/ specific vaccination sites (CVC)s/ specific timings every day/ separate queue to exclusively administer second dose of the vaccines. They were also advised to undertake widespread IEC campaigns for enhanced awareness among the beneficiaries,” the ministry statement said.
The states were also requested to identify districts whose vaccine coverage is lower than the State average and monitor as well as enhance progress of vaccination in these districts, it added.
The states were appraised at the meeting on prompt utilisation of Emergency Covid Response Package (ECRP) funds. The states/UTs were advised to process procurement and supply orders immediately to procure equipment, machinery, beds, drugs, etc. under the time bound ECRP-II package. States were also requested to make month wise expenditure plan and oversee corresponding physical progress on the ground, the health ministry said.
The meeting also reviewed the policy of maintaining adequate buffer stock of medicines used in treating COVID-19. “States can also procure and maintain a buffer stock of Covid medicines they deem necessary other than the eight essential Covid drugs compulsorily mandated by the Union Health Ministry,” the statement said.
