Vaccination drive for COVID-19 started in West Bengal on Saturday, along with rest of the country, with about 20,000 health workers being administered the vaccine across 207 centres in the State. when 75 per cent of the targeted beneficiaries received the shot in the state, health department officials said. Health department officials said 75% of the targeted beneficiaries received the shot.
Officials said that 25% of the beneficiaries did not turn up at designated centres probably because they were not sure about the efficacy of the vaccine.
Only four people at various vaccination centres complained of minor discomfort after receiving the shots, they said.
Addressing the health workers, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she had requested the Centre for adequate doses and added if required, the State is willing to bear financial burden.
She mentioned that she has already requested the Government of India to supply adequate number of vaccines for not only frontline workers, but also for all the people of West Bengal. She said all the people of the State should get vaccines free of cost as early as possible. “If needed, the State will bear the financial burden,” a press statement issued by the government said.
Meanwhile, a fresh controversy erupted with two Trinamool Congress leaders — Katwa MLA Rabindranath Chatterjee and Subhash Mondal — getting the first dose of vaccine. While the two leaders maintained they got the vaccine as frontline health workers, the Opposition parties, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party, criticised the move.
“I don’t know whether they have been vaccinated or not. If they have, it is not a good thing. The first stage of vaccination is for healthcare workers,” Minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Firhad Hakim said.
Deaths cross 10,000
Meanwhile, the State recorded 609 new cases of infection in the past 24 hours taking the total cases to 5,64,098. The State recorded 15 deaths taking the fatalities to 10,041. The discharge rate improved to 96.96%. The State has tested 30,000 samples in the past 24 hours.