The administration of Mahabubnagar district has launched a special drive to achieve 100% vaccination of all eligible persons, administering at least the first dose to about 7.1 lakh and second dose for all those eligible for it, over the next one week by deploying health workers covering habitations from 8 am to 8 pm every day.
The decision to administer at least the first dose to eligible persons has been taken following the entry of Omicron variant of COVID-19 infection into the country with its trait of spreading fast. The vaccination teams are in the field in all 435 gram panchayats and 3 municipalities in the district and several teams were continuing the inoculation till late in the night – up to 10 pm-11 pm.
According to District Collector S. Venkata Rao, about 18,300 doses were administered on December 4, 24,120 on December 5, 24,500 on December 6, and 22,500 on December 7. “Till December 3 the coverage of first dose was 5.56 lakh persons and second dose was 2.02 lakh persons and on December 10 it reached 6.1 lakh and 2.34 lakh, respectively”, the District Collector said.
To ensure a seamless exercise, the tahsildars and municipal commissioners concerned have been providing water, food, snacks on time to the visiting teams in the field itself. The district officials stated that administering the vaccine to more number of eligible persons was possible as most of those who go out for work would return home in the evening.
The officials stated that about 50,000 personnel of the health department, Asha and Anganwadi workers and women self help groups were engaged in the special drive of vaccination. The percentage of administering first dose was 86% and the second dose was 34%.