With an aim to vaccinate each citizen of the country against covid-19, the government has decided to speed up the door-to-door vaccination service.  

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Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a meeting on Monday with health ministers and senior officials of states and union territories via video conference to review the vaccination progress under the Har Ghar Dastak 2.0 campaign, the Health Ministry said in a statement. 

Stressing on importance of COVID-19 vaccination among the vulnerable age groups, he urged the state health ministers to personally review the status and progress of the special month-long drive -- Har Ghar Dastak 2.0 campaign -- which started on June 1. 

He said, "We can utilise the learning from the first Har Ghar Dastak campaign to aim for achieving 100 per cent coverage among eligible population for ensuring extended protection against COVID-19." 

"Adequate vaccine doses are available across the country. Let us ensure accelerated coverage of Covid vaccination during the second phase of Har Ghar Dastak campaign," he stressed. 

"Our healthcare workers are going from door-to-door to ensure that the vulnerable population is administered the precaution dose," he said. 

The minister asserted that the pandemic was not over yet and stressed on being vigilant and observing Covid-appropriate behaviour, with some states witnessing a spike in COVID-19 cases. 

He appealed to states and union territories to continue and strengthen surveillance and focus on genome sequencing for identifying new variants in the country. 

Highlighting increased case positivity rate in some districts and states and reduced COVID-19 testing, Mandaviya stated that increased and timely testing will enable early identification of cases and help curb spread of the infection in the community. 

The minister stated that the five-fold strategy of test, track, treat, vaccination and adherence to COVID-19-appropriate behaviour needs to be continued and monitored by states and UTs. 

States were also urged to focus on implementing the Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy for COVID-19 which focuses on surveillance of incoming international travellers and surveillance through health facilities, labs, community, etc., the statement said.