The State government has successfully administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to the targeted 2.77 crore population, Health Minister T. Harish Rao said on Tuesday.
As far as the second dose is concerned, the coverage stands at 66%. The State was ahead of the national average of 90% in first dose and 63% in second dose, the Minister said, adding that it was the first among larger states to complete 100% administration of the first dose. The State was progressing in a planned manner in terms of vaccine administration with effective coordination between the Health, Municipal Administration, Panchayat Raj and other departments. Accredited Social Health Activists as well as Auxiliary Nurse Midwives were ensuring wider reach of the vaccine by personally visiting the eligible beneficiaries in remote areas.
Special drive for vaccination had been launched and 7,970 teams had been constituted to ensure vaccine for all eligible people.As many as 3,500 government centres and 264 in private sector were in operation while 35,000 personnel were deployed for conducting vaccination drive.
Of the total people vaccinated, 87% chose government-run centres and 13% private centres, and there was no shortage of vaccine in the State, which had 30 lakh doses available with it.
The government was planning to start vaccination of youth aged between 15 and 18 years, constituting around 22.78 lakh, from January 3 and for those aged above 60 years from January 10. People residing in the municipal areas should register themselves on the CoWin portal while those in other places could directly visit the vaccination centres to get their dose.
Omicron tally
Mr Harish Rao said seven new Omicron cases had been reported in the State, taking the total to 62. Of those, 46 were from other countries, four contacts and three without any travel history. All the patients were safe and it was observed that 46 of those who tested positive for the new variant were unvaccinated, he added.
