BHUBANESWAR: With more than 56 percent of the age-appropriate people already administered both the doses of Covid vaccine in Bhubaneswar so far, the Odisha Capital is poised to become the first city in India to complete vaccination schedule if its strategy to cover the targeted beneficiaries by end of July goes as planned.
As per data available with the CoWIN portal, 97.82 pc of eligible beneficiaries in the city have received at least one dose of vaccine in last five months. Of the targeted 8,42,220 beneficiaries of 18 years and above, the city administered a single dose to 8,23,879 people while 4,77,756 received both the doses
The Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation (BMC) has now embarked on a plan to administer 30,000 doses a day except on gazetted holidays in a bid to cover the rest 3,64,464 beneficiaries awaiting their second dose and 18,341 who have not been vaccinated at all.
The inoculation drive was affected due to inadequate supply of vaccine by the domestic manufacturers and picked up momentum after the ‘free vaccination for all campaign’ by Centre was rolled out from June 21. Since there are no supply issues with Covaxin, the BMC authorities believe the pace will continue till all are covered.
Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Singh said Bhubaneswar is inching closer to saturation as only around two pc of the targeted population are left for single dose. “We have already opened slots till July 3 for the 18-44 age group. The slots which were getting booked in minutes are now vacant. It means the first dose saturation has come. We have planned to administer the first dose to all by July 3. Those who received the shot on the day will be due for the second dose on July 31 and by then, we would have delivered the second dose to all as well,” he said.
Not only among cities with a population of 10 lakh to 15 lakh, Bhubaneswar is all set to become the first in the country to have administered both the doses of vaccine in the next one month. In Visakhapatnam, Patna, Pune, Bhopal and Bengaluru, the single dose administration coverage is in 42 pc to 55 pc range. For the second dose, vaccination achievement is between 15 pc and 20 pc.
The vaccination coverage in Bhubaneswar has been witnessing an uptick since the beginning of the month due to strategic planning and execution. The municipal corporation introduced several community based vaccination plans.
The BMC, also for the first time, introduced Covid-19 testing before administering vaccines at mobile camps. People availing the facility will have to undergo a rapid antigen test before getting the jab. “This will not only help detect new cases but also prevent vaccine wastage. If a person is found positive, he/she need not be administered a vaccine,” Singh added. The BMC has a stock of around two lakh doses and has been promised to get the required two lakh more doses next month.