Citinga detailed state study which had shown excellent vaccine effectiveness againstthe Coronavirus, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturdaydirected the Health Department to gear up for full utilisation of theadditional vaccine supply, of which he had been personally assured by the UnionHealth Minister.
Notingthat more than half of the eligible population of the state had alreadyreceived one dose of vaccine, with theentire available stock being used without any wastage, the Chief Minister said he had, during his meetingwith the Union Health Minister earlier this week, sought immediate supplyof 55 lakh doses to inoculate Punjab’seligible population.
Hehad 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 tovaccinate 8 lac people per day.
Stressingthat there was no doubt regarding vaccine effectiveness, the Chief Ministerurged all eligible persons to come forward to get themselves vaccinated. As pera study to monitor Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness conducted by Dr. RajeshKumar, former head of School of Public Health PGI, it has been found that vaccine has beeneffective in reducing positivity by 95%, hospitalization by 96% and deaths by98%, the meeting was informed.
Thetotal vaccine eligible population of the state stands at 21603083. DuringApril-June 2021, the number of Covid positive cases, as per Cowin app, was316541, of which 1.8% was partially vaccinated, 0.4% was fully vaccinated and80.1% was unvaccinated. The vaccination status of 17.7% was missing.