BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh has done better than other states in terms of vaccinating its health workers against coronavirus. The first phase of vaccinating health workers is over and its mop-up round is to be held on February 3-4. Those who were left out in the first round will be vaccinated against the disease in the mop-up round. In the first round, nearly 300,000 health workers were vaccinated. Nearly 4.17 lakh health workers have to be vaccinated in the state and 67% of them have already been inoculated.
The highest number of health workers vaccinated in the country is from Lakshadweep, where 73% of the health workers have been inoculated. Madhya Pradesh is on top among the big states. In Rajasthan, 61% of the health workers have been vaccinated. Similarly, Odisha has reported inoculation of 56% of its health workers, Haryana 54% and Uttar Pradesh 50%. In other big states, the number of health workers vaccinated is fewer than 50%.
According to officials of the health department, nearly 100,000 health workers will be vaccinated in the mop-up round. Therefore, the state will achieve 90% of the target for vaccinating health workers.
About the vaccine, the same misconception prevails among health workers as among other people. This is why many health workers are avoiding vaccination. To dispel any doubts about the vaccine, additional chief secretary of health Mohd Suleman and commissioner of health Sanjay Goyal have got vaccinated. After that, the number of health workers getting vaccinated went up. Besides, the inoculation drive has achieved pace after the change in guidelines issued earlier.
