BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation on Saturday claimed that the State Capital became the first city in the country to have achieved the target of full vaccination (two doses) of its eligible population.
The city has administered 18,37,586 doses of vaccine against the target of 18 lakh doses projected on the basis of the population as per 2011 Census. As many as 3.25 lakh people aged above 45 years and 5.17 lakh beneficiaries of the 18-44 years age group were targeted to be vaccinated.
BMC sources said the city had a target of administering 8.42 lakh people aged 18 years and above. So far, 10,67,147 persons have been administered the first dose and 7,92,885 have received both the doses though over two lakh people from nearby districts have got jabs here.
Of the targeted people in the age group of 45 years and above, 4.02 lakh have taken the first dose and 3.21 lakh both doses. Similarly, 5.72 lakh people have got at least a single dose and 3.93 lakh received the second dose among the targeted beneficiaries of the 18-44 years age group.
However, the coverage among the healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) has been 85.6 per cent (pc) and 87.3 pc respectively. Of the enrolled 40,955 HCWs, 35,910 got one dose and 29,797 got two doses. As many as 56,164 beneficiaries have received the first dose and 47,301 got both the doses out of total enrollment of 61,401 FLWs.
Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Singh said the target in terms of doses has been achieved. “While the first dose coverage is more than 100 pc, close to 94 pc have been fully vaccinated. The rest awaiting their second dose will be covered in the next few days,” he said.
The Commissioner said now the beneficiaries will not be tagged to any particular vaccination centre. Since there is no rush, they can go to any nearby centre to get jab. The BMC will soon come out with a notification in this regard, he said.