A special paid vaccination drive will be held at private hospitals in the district on Wednesday. Around 30 private hospitals are participating in the drive and on-the-spot registration will be permitted for everybody over 18 years of age, according to Dr. M.G. Sivadas, nodal officer for vaccination.
Private hospitals have been administering an average of around 10,000 doses daily, and the drive hopes to push the figure up to 30,000 on a single day, Dr. Sivadas said. From Thursday onwards, online slot booking is likely to be available to everybody over the age of 18, he said.
The district is in a comfortable position with regard to vaccine availability, and additional stock is expected soon, he added.
Nearly 17 lakh doses of the two vaccines have been administered in Ernakulam so far, and about 77% of the population over 45 years has taken the first dose.
Of the targeted 11,76,315 people over the age of 45 in the district, 9,00,670 have taken the first shot. However, only 2,09,120 people have taken the second dose, going by the State Health Department vaccination bulletin. People who have completed 100 days after taking the first dose of Covishield can walk into their nearest vaccination centre directly to take the second shot, he said.
In the 18 to 44 years category, 3,24,140 people have taken the first dose. This is around 22% of the total population of over 14 lakh people in that age category.
According to the CoWIN dashboard, there are 185 government vaccination sites and 55 private ones in the district.
According to figures, 16,78,622 doses of the vaccination had been administered till Tuesday morning. On an average, around 30,000 doses are being administered daily. On Tuesday, over 32,000 doses were administered. The figure hit a high of 38,389 doses on June 25. Over the past four days, a total of 3,500 migrant workers have taken the first dose of the vaccine at special vaccination camps organised in Kalamassery, Aluva, and Perumbavoor. Another such camp was held for workers in the Edayar area on Tuesday.
