Hyderabad has begun a special mop-up drive to inoculate people who had been left out of the Covid-19 vaccination drive. The Telangana government hopes to vaccinate the city’s entire population within a fortnight with the drive.
CoWin data suggests the state has administered 1.68 crore doses of the vaccine as of August 22. Of the total, 1.25 crore are first doses and the remaining 43 lakh second doses. The Hyderabad district has seen 35.69 lakh doses administered, including 26.2 lakh first doses and the remaining 9.4 lakh second doses.
Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar visited a vaccination centre at the Old CIB quarters on Monday to oversee arrangements for the mop-up drive across Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) jurisdictions.
According to the plans for the drive, two-member mobilisation teams will make door-to-door visits and identify in advance unvaccinated persons. The team members will then inform the persons concerned about the area’s vaccination centre and the date and time for the inoculation. The team will also paste a sticker on the door of households whose residents have been vaccinated.
Kumar said following a review meeting with health department, SCB, and GHMC officials on August 21 that 175 mobile vehicles would be used for the drive.
Twenty-five of these vehicles would serve the Cantonment areas, while the remaining 150 would serve Greater Hyderabad. Each vehicle will include two vaccinators and one data entry operator. The 10-15-day drive will cover 4,846 slums, colonies, and other areas in the GHMC area and 360 localities in Cantonment.
Kumar has said adequate vaccine doses had been made available for all households identified. Appreciation certificates would be issued to Residents’ Welfare Associations that have completed 100 per cent vaccination.
As per latest Union Health Ministry data, Telangana has 6,276 active Covid-19 cases. Its total death toll from the virus stands at 3,862.
