Special vaccination drives will be intensified for homeless persons, residents of Laksham Veedu colonies, and Scheduled Caste persons living in colonies in Ernakulam district.
The drive for people living in colonies began with 102 persons taking the shot at Valanthakad island on Friday. This will be expanded to the Kochi Corporation area and other municipalities from Monday. The drive to vaccinate homeless persons, which began on Wednesday with those in the Kochi Corporation limits, will also be extended to other areas.
Dr. M.G. Sivadas, nodal officer for immunisation, said the district administration hopes to administer the vaccine to all people in priority groups by the end of June. Those above the age of 60, differently abled persons, bedridden patients, people due for the second dose, migrant workers, those going abroad, and residents of various colonies fall in the priority category, he said. While migrant workers at two camps have taken a dose of the vaccine so far, the Labour Department is identifying more camps in the Perumbavoor area where the drive can be organised, Dr. Sivadas informed.
The administration is also in the process of identifying local bodies where vaccination coverage is low. “In some panchayats, several people over the age of 60 are yet to be vaccinated. Since some local bodies remained containment zones for a while, the drive appears to have taken a hit in certain areas. These places will be identified soon, and the number of centres will be increased here from next week onwards,” Dr. Sivadas said.
1 lakh doses to arrive
A total of 1 lakh doses of the two vaccines, including 10,000 doses of Covaxin, are expected to arrive in the district over the next two days, he added.
A total of 14,16,670 doses have been administered in the district as of Saturday morning, the highest in the State. Of the 11,76,315 people over the age of 45 in the district, 1,68,920 are fully vaccinated (14% of the population in the age group). Out of 14,70,864 people in the 18 to 44 years category, a total of 2,16,350 have taken the first shot. This is around 15% of the population in that age bracket. As many as 2,660 people in the 18 to 44 age category have taken the second shot as well.
Going by data on the CoWIN portal, 21,528 doses were administered on Saturday. A total of 15 private hospitals have procured the vaccine in Ernakulam.
