New Delhi, Sep 4 (TIWN) The Centre has asked the states to quickly saturate the first dose coverage among the 18+ population. In a review meeting with the northeast and hill states on Saturday, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan told the states to saturate the 18+ age group with the 1st dose and focus on the 60+ age group and administer the 2nd dose to those eligible.

At the outset, the Health Secretary underlined that:  a) The States/UTs need to quickly saturate the first dose coverage among the 18+ population category.  b) States must also focus on the 60+ age group as the coverage of both the doses in this category is unsatisfactory in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya. The vulnerability of this age group to COVID-19 makes this exercise of prime importance.  c) The attention of the States was brought to the fact that the administration of the first dose has progressively outpaced the administration of second dose. It was suggested that States earmark doses, earmark days and target the completion of the exercise for these beneficiaries.  The details of State/UT-wise balance stock of 0.5 ml Syringes, Vaccination Coverage among Special Groups (Transgender Persons, Persons with Disabilities, PWI and Prisoners), COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among women particularly pregnant and lactating women was also discussed.  States/UTs were advised to closely monitor the stock from State Vaccine Stores to Cold Chain Point,check rational distribution and restrict vaccine wastage to below 2%, update data on eVIN (electronic vaccine intelligence network) on a daily basis, check supply of other denomination syringes as per availability (0.5 ml/ 1ml/ 2 ml/ 3ml Auto Disable/Re-use Prevention Syringes(RUP)/Disposable) for COVID vaccination.