Bihar: Bhagalpur officials gear up for Phase III of vaccination drive

BHAGALPUR: Health department officials in Bhagalpur are gearing up for Phase III of the Covid vaccination drive as part of which people above 50 years of age and those with comorbidities will be inoculated from the third week of March.
According to district immunization officer Dr Manoj Kumar Chowdhary, the vaccine shots are being given as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The beneficiaries will get themselves registered online after which they will receive details like the time and location of the hospital where the vaccines will be administered to them.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive, which started in January with healthcare workers, was followed by the second phase meant for frontline workers from February 6. While the healthcare workers are already receiving their second dosage, the second phase beneficiaries are likely to get their booster dosage from March 2 after a gap of three to four weeks.
“The drive for administering the booster dosage to health workers, who got their first shot of vaccine in Phase I, will end on February 28. On the other hand, the process of giving the second dosage to the frontline workers in Phase II will start on March 2 and end on March 20,” Chowdhary told this reporter on Tuesday and added that Phase III of the immunization drive would focus on people who were most vulnerable to the virus.
Two Covid vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — have been granted emergency-use authorization by the government.