After working with the civic body to contain the spread of COVID-19 during the peak of the second wave and setting up COVID care centres, Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) are channelling their resources to get more citizens vaccinated. Many have organised mass vaccination camps or have tied up with private healthcare service providers.
Changemakers of Kanakapura Road, a consortium of over 80 RWAs on Kanakapura Road, has vaccinated nearly 7,000 residents from 80 apartments between Sarakki Junction (Outer Ring Road) and NICE Road. The consortium hopes to cover at least 15,000 residents by the end of the month, said Gautam Kamat, treasurer.
Renukaprasad G.S. from the Shanthinagar RWA said the association had already held around four camps for the residents in the community. While two camps were held in an apartment, the RWA had booked a one-hour slot at the Primary Health Centre in the locality where residents could get the shot.
It was only recently that the Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF), an association of over 950 apartment complexes in the city, launched the #Vax4All campaign. It partnered with Manipal Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare, Narayana Health, and Apollo Hospitals to facilitate community-level vaccination camps covering 10.98 lakh citizens, including residents and staff working there. “Around 450-500 RWAs have nearly completed vaccinating residents. There are a few pending, mostly smaller apartments that were not able to organise camps,”said BAF general secretary Vikram Rai.
BAF is trying to organise community camps, where at least 500 vaccinations can be administered a day. Vishnu Gattupalli, also from BAF, said that a vaccination camp was organised at KTPO in Mahadevapura recently. “There was a demand for 2,000 vaccinations; but at the end of the day, 750 vaccinations were administered. With more demand for shots and private healthcare service providers not keen on holding smaller camps, community camps may be the way to go forward,” he said.
Many RWAs are also organising vaccine shots for domestic help, drivers, housekeeping staff, and other service personnel. “We are collecting data on helpers, drivers and other service personnel and their family members for the free vaccination drive. We estimate that we will need to cover at least another 4,000 people in this category,” said Mr. Kamat from Changemakers of Kanakapura Road.
BAF has also started holding camps for service personnel in various apartments and has tied up with ACT Grants, United Way Bengaluru, Sattva Consulting and Clinikk to provide free vaccines. Over the past three days, BAF’s joint secretary Vidya Goggi said around 1,300 service personnel from 12 apartments had been vaccinated.
BBMP survey underway
The BBMP has set a target of administering 30 lakh doses over one month. A door-to-door survey is underway to identify citizens in the 45+ age group who are yet to be vaccinated. Apart from ASHAs and civic officials, the BBMP is also seeking help from citizen volunteers and various citizens’ groups in undertaking this survey.
