Madhya Pradesh: Barwani’s Khetia Becomes First Town in State to Get 100 Per Cent COVID-19 Inoculation
BHOPAL / In a significant development, Khetia Municipality of Barwani district in Madhya Pradesh became the first town in the state to get the entire population in the above 18 years of age bracket fully vaccinated of Covid-19.
Besides, the three Gram panchayats of the district, Kuan, Kansul and Talwara Bujurg , were also achieved 100 per cent vaccination.
“State’s model of crisis management committees made to fight against the deadly virus has not only played a significant role to contain the spread of the pandemic but it also helped us to vaccinate people in the district”, Shivraj Singh Verma collector of Barwani told The Sun Today.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan had introduced the model of Crisis Management Committees (CMC) at the district, block, Gram Panchayat and ward-levels in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently hailed this model of MP to battle against Covid-19 while reviewing the situation of Coronavirus with the Chief Ministers.
“We have been focusing on the vaccination programme along with preparing to face the possible third wave of Coronavirus because the district is located on the border of Maharashtra which was the most hit state in the country during the second wave of the pandemic”, the collector said.
Barwani is a tribal district and has more than 70 per cent tribe population, running the vaccination programme in tribal villages is a big challenge before the administrations in the country because the tribal community is not aware of the benefits of the vaccination in the crisis of the pandemic.
“Our teams of health workers and Anganwadi activists have been conducting a door-to-door survey for finding out non-vaccinated people and convincing them to get the vaccine. The members of the CMCs created a positive atmosphere among the society in their respective areas to motivate people for getting the vaccine”, Verma added.
The collector also added that Khetia Nagar Panchayat is situated on the Maharastra border and it was very vulnerable to Covid-19 due to its dense population. The residents of the town moved to and from the bordering state for work therefore it was decided to first vaccinate it fully to protect the entire district.
The district has around a 17 Lakh population out of which 9.5 Lakh entitled beneficiaries are to be inoculated while 2.06 Lakh people have been vaccinated so far.
Verma further added that Corona in charge minister of the district, Prem Singh Patel has been leaving no stone unturned to support the administration and the people in fighting against Covid since he had been assigned by the CM. With the help of public representatives, social workers and, officers and staff of various departments, the district has made success in flattening the curve of the pandemic and gearing up the vaccination campaign, the collector also said.
Barwani has also become the first district in the state to utilizing the extra doses of vaccine in the Covishield vials, it had covered to inoculate 7 per cent more people.
The government had provided 20,300 doses of the Covishield vaccine to the district for utilizing on the inauguration day. However, 21,755 people had been vaccinated, which was possible due to the efforts of specially trained teams of health workers.
A vial of Covishield vaccine of Covid-19 has 11 doses but the health workers usually utilize only 10 doses by giving 0.5 ml vaccine for each beneficiary. More than one dose of vaccine remains in every vial, which used to waste but the district has made a record to utilize these extra doses.
