3.42 crore people vaccinated so far in Rajasthan,: Health Secretary Siddharth Mahajan

A total of 3.42 crore people have been vaccinated in Rajasthan so far, said the state Health Secretary Siddharth Mahajan on Saturday.

"We have given vaccinations to 3 crores 42 lakh people in the state as of Friday. In far-off areas like Barmer, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur, We inoculate people in a maximum of 48 hours after receiving the doses. For nearby districts like Jaipur, it is done within 24 hours after receiving the vaccine doses," said Mahajan.

On the vaccination status of the 18-plus population, he said: "Our 18 plus population as per Government of India data is around 5 crore 14 lakh. 51% of this population has got the first dose, 16% has got both doses, which is more than 80 lakh people."

The Health Secretary also said that Rajasthan has the capacity to deliver more than 15 lakh doses per day and requested the Central Government to provide more doses.

"In one day we can give more than 15 lakh doses of the vaccines and we request the government to give this much of vaccines to the state," he said.

On the vaccine wastage within the state, he added: "Sometimes in a vaccine vial, there are 11 doses instead of 10 as said by Government of India. So our strategy is to not waste even that single-dose and use the 11th dose as well. That's how our state vaccine wastage has been in negatives. In fact, we have used 2% extra vaccines. We want to deliver vaccines to people as soon as possible."

On being asked about the state's preparations for a potential third wave of the pandemic, Mahajan said: "We are prepared for the third wave. We have bought forty thousand Oxygen concentrators. At every PHC, we have sent five concentrators and at every CHC, ten concentrators have been sent. We had started purchasing and sending them in the second wave. We want to tell our villagers that we are capable of treating them at their nearest medical institutes. We are installing a total of 400 Oxygen plants, combining the ones provided by the centre and the state government. After this, the total Oxygen generation capacity in the state will reach 1000 MT. Emergency medicines at PHC and CHC hospitals are being stocked. We have selected 332 CHCs and at every block, there is at least one CHC. We are making ICU beds inside them."

Asking the citizens to take precautions, he said: "Don't go in crowds as it is a huge cause of the spread of infection. We don't know who is infected in a crowd. If you get Covid, your family can get it too. So it is important that you don't go in crowds and wear a mask. I would like to thank people for not showing any sort of vaccine hesitancy".

( With inputs from ANI )