Chandigarh: Citing a detailed state study which had shown excellent vaccine effectiveness against the Coronavirus, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday directed the Health Department to gear up for full utilisation of the additional vaccine supply, of which he had been personally assured by the Union Health Minister.
Noting that more than half of the eligible population of the state had already received one dose of vaccine, with the entire available stock being used without any wastage, the Chief Minister said he had, during his meeting with the Union Health Minister earlier this week, sought immediate supply of 55 lakh doses to inoculate Punjab’s eligible population. He had been assured of increased supplies, said Captain Amarinder. Incidentally, the first dose of Covid vaccine has been administered to around 82 lakh people (40% of state’s eligible population) and 2nd dose to nearly 24 lakh people (11% of eligible beneficiaries), which, said the Chief Minister, has the capacity to vaccinate 8 lac people per day.
Stressing that there was no doubt regarding vaccine effectiveness, the Chief Minister urged all eligible persons to come forward to get themselves vaccinated. As per a study to monitor Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness conducted by Dr. Rajesh Kumar, former head of School of Public Health PGI, it has been found that vaccine has been effective in reducing positivity by 95%, hospitalization by 96% and deaths by 98%, the meeting was informed.
The total vaccine eligible population of the state stands at 21603083. During April-June 2021, the number of Covid positive cases, as per Cowin app, was 316541, of which 1.8% was partially vaccinated, 0.4% was fully vaccinated and 80.1% was unvaccinated. The vaccination status of 17.7% was missing.