Health Ministry flags concern over decline in COVID vaccination in some States and UTs

New Delhi: In a major step to accelerate the pace of COVID vaccination coverage and saturate all eligible beneficiaries in some states and union territories, the Union Health Ministry on Friday announced a two months-long “Har Ghar Dastak 2.0” which will begin in June.

The Union Health Ministry in a measure to expedite the pace of vaccination coverage stated that vaccination centers or state governments must not insist on any document of foreign travel for precaution dose for such beneficiaries.

It further, urged the states and union territories to prevent wastage of COVID-19 vaccine and follow the “First Expiry First Out” principle.

India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 191.96 crore as per provisional reports shared by the Union Health Ministry till 7 am on Friday. This has been achieved through 2,41,17,166 sessions.

As per COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years which started on 16 March this year more than 3.24 crore adolescents have been administered with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

India’s active caseload currently stands at 15,044. Active cases now constitute 0.03 per cent of the country's total positive cases, the release stated. 2,259 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, it added.

Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.75%. 2,614 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,25,92,455.