Patna Makes It To Country’s Top Five Districts In Covid Vaccine Jabs Through Innovative Techniques

Bihar’s capital city Patna achieved a coveted distinction last weekend: it topped the list of districts with the highest Covid vaccine jabs administered on a single day.

Patna outperformed all other districts in the country by administering 1,36,560 vaccines Saturday.

“We surpassed Bengaluru (88,327), Ahmedabad (55,988), Mumbai (53,988), Belgaum (49,513), Kurnool (49,203), Surat (48,691), Dehradun (44,495) and Chennai (41,357) in terms of Covid jabs on Saturday,” said Patna’s district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh.

Patna has also joined the elite club of five districts in the country that administered more than one lakh vaccines on any single day. Indore district (Madhya Pradesh) tops that list with 2,27,349 doses, followed by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike with 1,73,960 shots, Bhopal with 1,56,137 shots and Ujjain with 1,05,314 jabs.

Incidentally, all these districts are in states administered by the BJP and its allies. Most districts in states run by opposition parties, including West Bengal, lag far behind.

Bihar’s achievement is huge considering that vaccine hesitancy was widespread even in the urban areas. The state government had to launch intensive special drives to get people to overcome this hesitancy and take the vaccines.

Each ‘Teeka Express’ van has vaccinators, data-entry operators and folk artistes who stage nukkad nataks (street plays) to sensitise people about the need to take vaccines and gain immunity.

Many local NGOs have also been roped in to spread awareness among people, especially in the rural areas, about vaccination.

All these measures have been successful and, say senior state officials, there is no vaccine hesitancy. “People from rural areas are calling up our field officers to know about the availability of vaccines in their respective areas. Now that we have almost saturated the urban areas, we shall turn our attention to vaccination in rural areas from August 10,” said a senior health department officer.

Patna’s share of the 5,09,447 doses administered all over Bihar Saturday was 27%. Patna has now covered 95% of its urban adult population and 33% rural adult population with first dose vaccination.

Patna’s overall first-dose vaccination stands at 53% of its adult population. More than 18% of the district’s adult population have been fully vaccinated.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked the state health department to achieve 100% vaccination in the state by December. Patna district aims at achieving this target by October.