Proud that over 10.72 cr COVID-19 vaccine doses inoculated in Madhya Pradesh in a year, says Shivraj Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday inspected COVID-19 vaccination centre of Jaypee Hospital in Bhopal on the occasion of completing one year of nationwide vaccination drive. Chouhan said, "Earlier, about 30 to 40 per cent people needed to be admitted when they got infected with COVID-19, but now only 3 to 4 per cent people need to be admitted, this has been possible only through vaccination."

He also said, "I'm proud that over 10.72 crore COVID-19 doses were inoculated in the state till January 15, including the first, second, and precaution doses. The first dose has been administered to 5 crore 32 lakh people, which is 97 per cent of the target population, while the second dose has been administered to 5 crore 8 lakh people, which is 92 per cent." The Chief Minister also expressed gratitude to the healthcare workers for expediting the drive and reaching inaccessible areas to achieve the goal.

Assuring that the state's healthcare infrastructure is well equipped to fight the pandemic, Chouhan said that presently no such situation has arised to admit people to the hospital. "It is even more gratifying that most of the people who are being admitted to the hospitals now are not critical, they do not require oxygen. The only advantage of vaccination is that at first you will not get infected and even if you do,the virus will not affect severely ," he said.

Notably, vaccination drive across the conurty began on January 16, 2021. Starting initially by inoculating vaccines to healthcare workers, it was then expanded to frontline workers, followed by people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years with comorbidities on March 1 last year. Later it was also expanded to all above 45 years of age on April 1, 2021 and then those above 18 years of age on May 1, 2021.

The vaccination drive for those between the age group 15-18 was started on January 3, 2022 and for administering the precautionary doses to the healthcare workers, frontline workers and sixty plus individuals then commenced on January 10 this year.