Civic Body To Conduct Drive To Ensure More People Take Covid Booster Jab

Following the instructions of the state health department to strengthen the Covid vaccination drive, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's (KMC) health wing is set to conduct a drive to ensure that people in more numbers take doses and the number of Covid tests increases in all the wards.

Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh, in-charge of the health department on Tuesday visited ward No. 11 to take stock of the vaccination scenario and Covid test situation.

KMC health officials will visit the wards to ensure that tests are carried out in large numbers in the wake of a fresh Covid threat.

As the people were not coming to the vaccination centres to get a jab, the KMC will start an awareness drive next month to make people aware so that they come to the centres for getting a jab.

Mayor Firhad Hakim earlier said that many of the vaccination centres run by the KMC hardly find any person seeking a booster jab. Hakim also said that booster vaccination is going on in all the boroughs of the KMC.

The number of people taking booster doses is much less. Only 20 per cent of people have received booster doses so far. There are around 10 people in each vaccination centre to manage it. But people are not coming. State health department has around 1.70 lakh Covaxin doses while Covishield doses have been exhausted.

A senior health official said that the present stock of Covid doses will be exhausted before March 31. The State has been waiting for a fresh guideline from the Centre regarding the vaccination. Bengal government has already urged the Centre to send Covid doses to the state. Meanwhile, the State on Wednesday registered 9 Covid cases. No death was reported on Wednesday as well. The total active cases stood at 58 on Wednesday. Around 46 patients are in home isolation whereas only 12 patients are undergoing treatment at various hospitals.