A'bad tops in vaccination from Marathwada; secures 16th position in state

Aurangabad, Dec 6:

Aurangabad district has secured the first position surpassing the health minister Rajesh Tope's Jalna district in Marathwada. It has also secured 16th position in the state and so, far had vaccinated 16.86 lakh persons, in the district. It is learnt that 78 per cent of citizens had taken their first dose of vaccine and 31 per cent had taken their second dose till Sunday.

It is believed that the Aurangabad district, which was lagging behind in the vaccination percentage today is now leading in the region and had also scaled up its position in the state list after the district collector issued a warning 'No vaccine - No ration'. As a result, the beelines started to form in the rural parts of the district and the vaccination percentage has gone up.

In October, 46 per cent of persons had taken the vaccine in the district till the second week. Later on, the Zilla Parishad chief executive officer (CEO), Nilesh Gatane, appointed one nodal officer for each tehsil and sought help of talathi,

gramsevaks, sarpanchs, ZP and Panchayat Samiti office-bearers in implementing the vaccination drive. The officers also camped in villages that were not responding to the vaccination. The collective efforts started to yield results and the

vaccination drive gained momentum.

Reduction in population by 2L

To implement a 100 per cent vaccination drive, the ZP through Anganwadi personnel visited door to door and jotted down the details of vaccinated persons (above 18 years of age) in each house. As per the voters list, 21.69 lakh persons are eligible for taking vaccine in the district, but the physical inspection revealed that the strength is less by 2 lakh. The Zilla Parishad administration has now started to verify the data.

Meanwhile, the primary health centres will telephone the citizens, who had taken the first vaccine but had not taken the second dose, even after completing the gap of 84 days. The attendant will be specially spared for the tele-calling, said the ZP-CEO.

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The district-wise position in the state for implementing vaccination drive is as follows:

Aurangabad - 16th

Osmanabad - 23rd

Jalna & Latur - 27th

Parbhani - 28th

Hingoli - 32rd

Beed - 33rd and

Nanded - 34th.