VIJAYAWADA/BENGALURU: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the Covid-19 vaccination drive at the Government General Hospital (GGH) in the city on Saturday. A total of 3.8 lakh health workers in the State will be vaccinated in the first phase. B Pushpa Kumari, a health worker, is the first beneficiary to get vaccinated in AP.
Nagajyothi and three other health workers were also vaccinated in the presence of the Chief Minister, who interacted with beneficiaries at the session site. Deputy Chief Minister (Health) Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, Ministers Perni Venkatramaiah and Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao, Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, and other officials were also present. A total of 19,108 beneficiaries were vaccinated as against the target of 32,570 at 332 session centres in the State by 8.30 pm on the first day.
A total of 2,324 medical staff have been deployed for vaccination. “At present, we have to check if the Co-WIN application can take the load of 1,300 beneficiaries per day in Andhra Pradesh. Hence, for the initial four to five days of the drive, we will vaccinate only 100 beneficiaries per day per site,” Dr Joshua, technical support head, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told Express.
60.2 % turnout in Karnataka
The first phase of the Covid vaccination drive began at 243 sites across Karnataka, including nine in Bengaluru, on Saturday. The drive in the State began minutes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the drive through video conferencing. Nagaratna K, a 28-year-old ward attendant at Victoria Hospital, received the first jab in the presence of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi and Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar.
While some districts had low turnout, there were also technical glitches from the CoWIN app which resulted in the delay of the drive. While Bengaluru saw a turnout of 59 per cent, the State saw a turnout of 60.2 per cent registered beneficiaries. “Though many people had registered and a target was set accordingly, apprehensions about the side effects of the jab forced healthcare workers to refrain from getting the vaccine,” explained a senior doctor.
38 choose Covaxin at RGGGH
Chennai: A total of 78 healthcare providers were administered the vaccine at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai, of which 40 took Covishield and 38 took Covaxin. Dr Manoj Murhekar, director and scientist at the National Institute of Epidemiology, was among the recipients of the indigenously developed Covaxin