Precautionary dose for FLWs and Senior Citizens from today: Dr N Shyamjai
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 09 2022: Manipur will start giving precautionary doses (booster shots) to Health Care Workers, Front Line Workers and senior citizens above the age of 60 years having comorbidities from tomorrow onwards.

State Mission Director Dr N Shyamjai said this to The Sangai Express today and added that there are about 1.15 lakh Front Line Workers in the State which include members of Panchayati Raj institutes, staff of Revenue Department, Home Department, Assam Rifles, Army etc.

He informed that enough doses of vaccine for precautionary dose administration is in stock.

Precautionary dose for FLWs and Senior Citizens from today: Dr N Shyamjai

Regarding the vaccination for children in the age group 15-18 years which was started on January 3, Dr N Shyamjai said the Government of India has sent enough doses to vaccinate approximately 1.78 lakh individuals in this age bracket.

Covaxin is the only vaccine that will be used to vaccinate children in this age bracket, he added.

In connection to the poor vaccination rate in the State, Dr N Shyamjai said that there are huge differences in data provided by the Government of India and the Election Commission of India regarding the number of individuals eligible for vaccination.

As per GoI report, there are about 23,41,000 eligible population while as per the electoral roll published by the State Election Office, the number is just 20,38,916 .

If the data provided by GoI is taken as the base, the percentage of eligible population that have been inoculated, till Jan 8, with first dose and second dose of COVID-19 vaccine is 57.04 percent and 43.04 percent respectively while it will be 65.74 percent and 49.15 percent respectively if the data from the latest electoral roll is taken as the base.

Kangpokpi district, the worst performing district, has vaccinated only 19.65 percent of its eligible population with 1st dose and 13.19 percent with the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

Kakching district has vaccinated 74.03 percent of its eligible population with the first dose and is the district which has vaccinated the most with first dose while Jiribam is the district with the highest rate of double dose vaccination with 59.15 percent.

Dr N Shyamjai also said in addition to the FLWs, the State is also preparing to vaccinate officials who will be on election duty in the upcoming 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly election.

In this regard, he appealed the District Election Officers to take up necessary steps to get their staff inoculated with the first, second and the precautionary dose.