BBMP prepares plan for Covid-19 vaccine rollout

BENGALURU : In all, 1,507 centres will be set up across the city to ensure that the Covid-19 vaccine is administered smoothly, said Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad after holding a meeting with health officials here on Saturday.

The meeting was held in the wake of the Centre announcing that the vaccine would be rolled out from January 16. Prasad said the centres will be grouped into clusters with each cluster comprising five centres headed by a sector officer. Totally, there will be 300 sector officers. Each centre should ensure that at least 100 people are vaccinated each day, he added.

Sector officers will be trained in the distribution and vaccination processes and their responsibilities will be listed out soon, he said. These officers should start preparing the maps of the areas being covered to ensure that a smooth channel is created for vehicles carrying the vaccines and for ambulances plying between the centre and hospitals, Prasad said.

Each centre should be linked to the nearest hospital and ambulances should be stationed at each vaccination centre to ensure that any citizen who has any health-related issues is easily taken to the nearest linked hospital. In the first phase, the vaccination will be given to healthcare workers, and in the second phase to teachers, police, revenue department officials and other frontline workers.

In the third phase, those above 50 years of age and those below 50 with comorbidities will be identified by the electoral list. The BBMP has already identified 1.75 lakh healthcare providers and their information has been updated on the CoWin portal. Every centre will have proper demarcation identifying each room, with drinking water dispensers and chairs, WiFi facilities and all the other basic amenities.