Haryana: 33,215 healthcare workers receive vaccine shots; over 1 lakh vaccinated so far

More than 33,200 healthcare workers were administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine Monday, taking the number of beneficiaries vaccinated against the disease in the state so far to over one lakh.

Haryana has taken a lead in effective implementation of the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out by maintaining a good coverage, Additional Health Secretary Rajeev Arora said, adding, “It is a matter of great satisfaction that today Haryana has achieved 33,215 vaccinations against the set target of 30,000 for January 25”.

Health Minister Anil Vij congratulated the department for effectively rolling out the vaccination drive.

Haryana is set to complete Covid-19 vaccination of all registered healthcare workers except those who cannot be given the shot as per guidelines (pregnant and lactating women, persons who are allergic to any vaccine), Arora said. “Till date, Haryana has vaccinated 1,05,401 healthcare workers. In the coming few days, all registered and eligible beneficiaries will be vaccinated,” he said.

The inoculation drive was launched on January 16 at 77 vaccination sites across Haryana.

While in Panchkula, the session started with the vaccination of sanitation worker Raj Bala and many senior officers of the Health department, in other districts, renowned doctors volunteered to be vaccinated.

Arora said the state handled the Covid-19 situation effectively and was able to strengthen medical facilities as per the requirement. Even though there were no Covid-19 testing facilities in the state initially, and all samples had to be sent to Pune, the Haryana government acted swiftly as per the need of the hour and RT-PCR testing centres were set up in most district hospitals and all medical colleges on priority, the official said.

Apart from government laboratories, the Health department had given authorization to several private laboratories to conduct the tests, he added.