Mysuru district is leading in the State after Bengaluru in terms of vaccination coverage as it happens to be the second largest vaccinated district in the battle against COVID-19 whose second wave of infection is turning out to be more intense than the previous one if the cases reported daily are a pointer.
The vaccination coverage, especially in the last few days, rose markedly in the district with eligible persons thronging the immunisation sites for the jabs.
As on Thursday, nearly 3 lakh persons had been vaccinated, and the highest number of immunised were persons above 60 years.
With the State planning to hold ‘Vaccination Utsav’ or ‘Lasike Utsava’ from April 11 to maximise immunization, drawing eligible persons to the vaccination sites, the authorities in Mysuru are gearing up for the task and hoping to motivate the targeted populations to volunteer for the jabs at the nearest sites for a collective battle against the pandemic.
Even among the category of persons aged above 60 years and 45 years and above, the Mysuru district stands second after Bengaluru in vaccination coverage. As on Thursday, a total of 1,52,243 persons above 60 years had been vaccinated as on Thursday while 75,797 people above 45 years of age had received the vaccine.
The district administration had set the target of vaccinating at least 20,000 people daily, supplying adequate stocks of vaccine doses. As many as 260 vaccination sites have been functioning since last Monday, to upsurge the coverage and meet the target. On Thursday alone, 22,480 persons were vaccinated. The highest number of shots received wasein T. Narsipur taluk where 2,917 people got themselves vaccinated. In Mysuru city, 2,522 persons got the shots on Thursday alone.
The rise in coverage is also being attributed to the expansion of vaccination sites with more number of private hospitals and nursing homes joining the ‘Mission Vaccination’, helping the district administration in the battle, providing space in their premises for carrying out free vaccination. Nearly 30 hospitals associated with ‘MAHAN’ were handling vaccination tasks since the past few days.
A senior health official said, “One of the reasons for many eligible persons volunteering for the jabs in the recent days after a lukewarm response initially is the spurt in cases here. The COVID-19 spike is driving them to protect themselves by getting the vaccine doses, thereby expanding the coverage.”
The health authorities meanwhile are working out logistics for carrying out the ‘vaccination utsav’ from April 11 to 14. It has to be seen whether the sites of vaccination would go up further for giving the shots to as many number of eligible persons as possible during the drive.
The district administration had earlier planned to vaccinate 3 lakh people in 15 days roping in more private hospitals to assist in the mission. Going by the number of people volunteering for the shots, the authorities feel the number is achievable since nearly 1.50 lakh doses of vaccine have arrived in the city.
