Indore: Board exams hit vaccination drive of teenagers

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Hit by the slow pace of vaccination of teenagers of age 15-17 years, health department officials blamed the ongoing board exams as the reason for the same.

The department couldn’t achieve the 100 percent target of the first dose of vaccination in more than one and half months and couldn’t inoculate more than 58 percent of them from the second dose.

As many as 1.55 lakh teenagers of the eligible age group have taken the first dose out of the target of over 1.94 lakh doses which is only 80 percent of the total target.

Moreover, the claim of achieving the second dose target of teenagers also fell flat as the administration could inoculate only the 58% of the 80% teenagers who have taken the first dose of the vaccine.

“We believe that board examinations have been started and it is one of the main reasons that the teenagers are not coming for the second dose of vaccine. We expect that many students will come after completion of the exams,” Immunization Officer said.

He added that they are doing all to search for the remaining beneficiaries for the first dose of vaccine.

According to officials, most of the teenagers in school falling under the age group are being vaccinated and only those are remaining who are sick or they couldn’t come to school due to some other reasons.

“We are mapping the schools and also trying to mobilise children through coaching centres and those drop outs,” officials said.

Vaccination of teenagers of 15-17 age

Dose - Target - Achievement - Percentage

First - 194753 - 155682 - 80

Second - 155682 - 91010 - 58

Slow pace of vaccination continues

The slow pace of vaccination continued in the city as about 2800 people were vaccinated throughout the day on Tuesday. Officials, however, said that Tuesday was fixed for routine immunization and the low vaccination number was obvious.