NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: A fresh stock of 80,000
Covishield doses reached Noida on Saturday evening, a day before the government’s “tika utsav” or vaccination camp begins on Sunday. Around 20,000 doses of the
vaccine would be given to Ghaziabad, which is expected to get its own stock of 80,000 doses on Sunday morning.
With only a few thousand doses left, it was touch-and-go whether the health departments of Noida and Ghaziabad would be able to carry out vaccinations for long. “We will give 80,000 doses to Ghaziabad as loan so that inoculations aren’t hampered there on Sunday,” said Neeraj Tyagi, the district immunisation officer in Noida.
Vaccines would be administered at 95 centres in Noida on Sunday, 40 of which would be government facilities. Officials insisted that all these centres would have enough stock of vaccines by the morning. Not just those who have registered, these centres will also allow walk-in inoculations to anyone aged over 45 years.
According to the target set by the UP government for the four-day tika utsav, Noida is expected to vaccinate 18,500 people on Sunday and 35,000 each on Monday and Tuesday. Following this, the district is expecting another batch of vaccines from Lucknow.
Officials told TOI the fresh batch of vaccines received on Saturday would last the next four days. “We have sufficient doses for now. Vaccination will be done at all authorised centres. We just hope everyone who is eligible comes forward to get the shot,” said Noida district magistrate Suhas LY.
On Saturday evening, Ghaziabad was left with only 4,000 doses. The district, which is expecting 80,000 doses from Lucknow on Sunday morning, is aiming at vaccinating about 1 lakh people during the tika utsav.
“The tika utsav is aimed at boosting the vaccination drive. In Ghaziabad, we are targeting about 1 lakh people over the next four days,” said NK Gupta, the chief medical office. “On Sunday, we plan to vaccinate 18,000 recipients. On Monday and Tuesday, we have set a target of 35,000 vaccinations each. The remaining will be covered on Wednesday,” he added.
Gupta asserted that unlike the past few days, there would be no dearth of vaccines in the district till Wednesday. “There will be no shortage whatsoever. We have 4,000 doses with us. In addition, we will get 80,000 doses from Lucknow by Sunday morning. We have also asked for 25,000 doses from Noida, which we hope to get by Sunday morning,” said Gupta.
The CMO also informed that a van to bring the vaccines had been sent to Lucknow and the vehicle was expected to be back in Ghaziabad by Sunday morning.
While there are no corporate requests yet, officials in both the districts are planning to set up camps in offices and institutions. “We will be organising vaccination camps in offices as well. But they have to request us first,” said Tyagi, the Noida immunisation officer.