BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will ramp up its vaccination drive in the State capital from next week with a target of inoculating 25,000 beneficiaries of both 18-44 and 45 plus age group in a day.
“The State government has assured us sufficient doses of vaccines in the coming days and asked us to expedite the ongoing inoculation drive. Accordingly, the vaccination drive will be intensified for the first dose of the 18 to 44 age group either from June 14 or 15,” said Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Singh.
Though the civic body has set a target to vaccinate 5.17 lakh people in the age group of 18 to 44, less than 35 per cent beneficiaries in the category have received their first dose while a few thousand have received the second dose.
The Commissioner said the number of session sites attached to Urban CHCs and PHCs will be increased to 30 from the existing 26 from Monday to expedite the vaccination drive. Similarly, BMC has increased the number of drive-in session sites from existing seven to 10.
Around 15 centres have also been set up at different workplaces and units formed for door-step vaccination of elderly persons.
“This is not only a part of unlock but also an attempt to bring things back to normal. Once the lockdown is lifted, businesses will resume and we will have to ramp up our vaccination programme accordingly,” Singh said.
He said to achieve the target, the civic body has already adopted a targeted vaccination approach and decided to inoculate all delivery partners of Swiggy, Zomato and other service firms on priority basis by Saturday. The hotel and restaurant staff are also being vaccinated on priority.