PUNE: State chief secretary Sitaram Kunte on Tuesday directed the local authorities to employ persuasive techniques to push up vaccination of frontline workers, which currently stands at 86% in Maharashtra despite an early start for the category in January this year.
“We want to scale up and complete vaccination of the frontline workers at the earliest. All local authorities have been directed to persuade their staffers to complete their second dose as per the schedule. With the door-to-door campaign, the department heads can track the numbers and ensure that all frontline workers are vaccinated,” Kunte told TOI.
As per the public health department, 87% of healthcare workers and 86% frontline workers have been vaccinated in the state. Kunte said even as most of the frontline workers have got their first dose, there was some complacency in getting the second dose. He said the state should look at covering all the beneficiaries with at least single dose of vaccine by December-end.
Additional chief secretary health Dr Pradeep Vyas told TOI that with the “har ghar dastak” campaign, they were proactively approaching all those who have missed their second dose and those who are yet to get first dose. “We will try to ensure that all eligible population is covered by November 30,” he said.
On the Covishield doses gap, Kunte said the state has been continuously following up with the Centre on the issue.
Senior state government officials told TOI that even as persuasive techniques should be followed, coercive techniques should not be adopted by the local authorities Recently, the Thane municipal corporation mandated that the government staff would not get their salary if they were not vaccinated.
