Swarnalatha, a 57-year-old school teacher, was initially apprehensive of taking the vaccine shot. She feared that she might suffer from adverse reactions. Her worries, however, dissipated after nothing of that sort happened. Ms. Swarnalatha then shared her positive experience with her colleagues, who followed suit.
Voluntary vaccinationADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
As opposed to the initial days of the vaccination programme, when health officials had to use their persuasive skills to bring people to the session sites, now a word-of-mouth publicity by those who took the jab is getting the job done. It has even led to an increase in the number of people going for vaccination, as per reports.
“More people are coming on their own to the session sites going by the experiences narrated by those who have taken the vaccine,” said Prakasam District Medical and Health Officer P. Ratnavalli overseeing the inoculation drive across 119 session sites, including 11 urban civic bodies, on Saturday.
On Saturday, as many as 10,000 persons took the jab in Prakasam, the highest since the drive was launched on January 16. With this, 1.97 lakh people have been vaccinated against COVID in the district, according to health officials in Ongole.
ADVERTISEMENT
Active cases jump to 1,228
Meanwhile, the district reported 48 new cases and three deaths in the last 24 hours.
Active cases in South Coastal Andhra jumped to 1,228 with 211 persons testing positive for the disease in the region, including 163 in SPSR Nellore district alone.
Focus on urban civic bodies
In neighbouring SPSR Nellore district, a special drive has been taken up with focus on urban civic bodies.
“As many as 7,696 persons have been vaccinated till late in the evening,” said DMHO S.Rajyalakshmi.
The district health administration has geared up to vaccinate up to 30,000 persons every day as more and more people are expected to throng the session sites in the coming weeks in the wake of surge in new cases in the district.