Seven months on, Bengaluru Urban touches one crore Covid jabs

Average of 1 lakh doses administered each day; 32.19 per cent of those covered are fully immunised
‘Vaccination on Wheels’, a free mobile vaccination initiative, was launched by Narayana Health City in association with Volvo Group India in Bengaluru on Wednesday. (Photo | Nagaraja Gadekal, EPS)
‘Vaccination on Wheels’, a free mobile vaccination initiative, was launched by Narayana Health City in association with Volvo Group India in Bengaluru on Wednesday. (Photo | Nagaraja Gadekal, EPS)

BENGALURU: Bengaluru Urban district, including Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) area, has reached a milestone, having administered 1 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine to beneficiaries. These include the first and second doses of Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik for healthcare workers, frontline workers, those aged above 45 years and 18-44 age group, administered in both private and government centres. This milestone was reached 7 months and 9 days after the vaccination drive began on January 16 this year.

In all, 4,13,415 doses have been given to healthcare workers, 5,79,191 doses to frontline workers, 39,78,341 to those aged above 45 years, and 50,63,651 doses to those aged between 18 to 44 years. Totally, 1,00,34,598 doses have been given in the district.

“The daily inoculations depend on supply, ranging from an average of 1 lakh doses a day to as high as 2.1 lakh doses on certain days. When the immunisation programme opened up for those aged between 18 and 44 years, we prioritised 23 categories of people, including street vendors, prisoners, differently-abled citizens etc at first,” said J Manjunath, Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner, urging people who are due for their first or second dose, to come forward and take it.

The drive kicked off for health workers on January 16 this year, followed by frontline workers on February 8, those aged above 45 years on March 1, and those aged between 18 and 44 years on May 10. In all, 75,90,684 first doses were administered and 24,43,914-second doses were given. Therefore, 32.19 per cent of those covered are completely immunised.

Bengaluru Urban district covers 198 wards of BBMP, two City Municipal Corporations (Hebbagodi and Madanayakanahalli) and seven Town Municipal Corporations (Anekal, Attibele, Bommasandra, Chandapura, Jigani, Chikkabanavara and Hunasamaranahalli). The target population for vaccination in Bengaluru Urban region, excluding BBMP, is 10,62,262 and in the BBMP region, it is 94,42,274.

Other districts with the highest number of vaccine doses administered are Belagavi (23,56,873 doses), Mysuru (20,83,556 doses), Dakshina Kannada (14,34,830 doses), Tumakuru (14,03,912 doses) and Ballari (13,61,791 doses), as per data put out by the health department on August 24.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com