The next big Covid-19 vaccination day will be September 17, PM Modi's birthday: MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan says vaccine supply to the state is now matching its demand. Edited excerpts from a telephone interview with Shantanu Nandan Sharma:
What’s your strategy to speed up vaccination?
In recent months, vaccination in Madhya Pradesh has speeded up. It is mainly due to public participation. Along with ministers, collectors and other individuals from our administration, select members from the society — from doctors to social workers — have been actively involved in creating awareness about the process. We have launched a door-to-door campaign in certain pockets and invited people by offering pili chawal (a traditional way of invitation) to come to vaccination centres on certain dates. In our state, we offer pili chawal to invite someone to an important function, say, a wedding ceremony. It means an invitation with respect. For the elderly and differently-abled, we have arranged transportation too.

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What’s your target to complete 100% coverage of the first dose?
As far as the first dose is concerned, till September 7, we have given it to 73% of eligible persons. Our target is to reach 100% by the end of September. There could be exceptions, for example, if someone is residing outside the state.

And what about both doses?
That will be completed by the end of December.

Is there still a problem in getting regular supply of vaccines?
It is no longer an issue now. Earlier, we had to plan the vaccination programme according to the number of doses that were promised to us. Now we are receiving doses according to our capacity. We choose some big vaccination days whenever we find the process is getting a bit slow. One such big vaccination day will be September 17, the birthday of our prime minister. We are preparing for that.

Vaccination has been slow in a couple of districts, for example, Sheopur.
That’s because of floods. Sheopur was totally submerged. Our administration was busy tackling it. Now we are trying to make it up.