BHOPAL: Festivities and harvest first while Covid-19 seems to be on the last priorities of the people in the state. Festive season coupled with Navratri celebrations have slowed down the vaccination drive, officials said. The state had managed to be on the top list of populated states in terms of administering the first dose of vaccine, data so far shows.
As per daily average, around 5.71 lakh vaccine doses were administered everyday in September when a total of 1.7 crore vaccine doses were administered. However, in October so far, it has reduced by one-third to just 1.76 lakh doses everyday. Only 21 lakh vaccine doses have been administered in the state so far in this month.
Officials say that the vaccination has slowed down a bit due to the festival seasons, but it is likely to speed up after October 15.
“It has slowed down a bit due to the festival and harvest season, but inputs received say that it will speed up with same intensity once the festival season is over, i.e., after October 15,” state vaccination officer, Dr Santosh Shukla told TOI.
Sources said that there are several people who have postponed their second dose vaccination by nine days due to the ongoing Navratri festival. Apart from it in rural areas, people into harvest season which is considered as a timebound work, hence there is less vaccination.
Experts however believe that it could also be due to psychological Covid-19 fatigue. “It is quite normal behaviour if we are going through persistent stress for a particular reason, our sub-conscious mind adjusts for bringing relief in such a way, that people often tend to behave to opposite of what was bringing them stress. It’s a kind of rebellion from our subconscious mind”, Dr Satyakant Trivedi told TOI.
