Pratapgarh becomes first district in Rajasthan to administer COVID-19 first dose to 100 pc population

Rajasthan's Pratapgarh is the first district in the state to completely vaccinate all of its eligible population with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, said the state's health department.

On the occasion, state Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma on Saturday complimented the residents of the district, administration and the medical personnel for their effort in achieving this.

The Health Minister in an official statement said, "Pratapgarh district was given a target to vaccinate 6,52,061 people in the age group of 18 years and above. Against this, 6,55,869 people were administered the first dose in the district on Saturday. The number of people who have been inoculated with the first and second dose has now gone up to 9,71,841."

The Health Minister complimented Pratapgarh District Collector Prakash Chandra Sharma, Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr VD Meena and the entire team of the health department. He said that the medical department has given its best during the pandemic.

"There has been an increase in both doses of Covid-19 vaccination in the last one and a half months. Last month around 1.50 lakh doses were administered due to adequate cooperation of the people and tireless efforts of the medical team," said the state health department.

India's COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched on January 16, 2021.

Initially, the vaccination was opened for Health Care Workers (HCWs) only.

From February 2, front line workers were made eligible for vaccination. These included State and Central Police personnel, Armed Force Personnel, Home Guards, Civil Defence & Disaster Management Volunteers, Municipal workers, Prison Staff, PRI Staff and Revenue workers involved in containment and surveillance, Railway Protection Force and election Staff.

The vaccination drive was expanded from March 1 to include persons above 60 years of age and those above 45 years with associated specified 20 comorbidities. It was further expanded to all people above 45 years of age from April 1. From May 1, all persons above 18 years of age were made eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.

Meanwhile, India recently achieved administering 100 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses to eligible beneficiaries.

( With inputs from ANI )