kolkata: State health department in a single-day has administered at least 12,10,095 doses of Covid vaccine till Tuesday evening with Murshidabad witnessing the highest vaccinations among all the districts followed by North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and South 24-Parganas, setting an example for other states to follow. As many as 4.10 crore doses have so far been administered in Bengal.
Bengal has been able to achieve this milestone on Tuesday as the health department had already put in place adequate infrastructure in the rural areas as well so that a huge number of vaccinations can be done. The department was unable to scale up the vaccination drive as it received meager doses of vaccine from the Centre. As the health department has received some more doses this month, it has touched the record figure. For the past one week, the state managed to conduct around 5 lakh daily vaccinations.
"We had an expectation to cross the 10 lakh vaccination mark on Tuesday. Till the evening we had already crossed the 11.54 lakh daily mark. It is expected that we will cross the 12 lakh milestone till Tuesday night. We will further scale up the drive as we are getting some more doses," Director of Health Services Dr Ajay Chakraborty said.
At least around 1,50,554 doses were administered in Murshidabad on Tuesday while in case of North 24-Parganas the figure stood at 86,859, Hooghly 81,207 and South 24-Parganas 70,891. This is for the first time so many doses have been performed by the districts as well. Health department had laid stress on enhancing infrastructure so that more vaccination can be done in the rural; areas as well.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi on Tuesday held a meeting with all the DMs, Chief medical officers of health in the districts, police superintendents through video conference where all the district officials have been directed to do micro-planning so that extra rush of beneficiaries can be avoided. ASHA workers will take the coupons to the doorsteps of the people where specific slots would be mentioned. The decision has been taken to avoid gathering outside the Covid vaccination centers. People will get coupons 1-2 days prior to the date of vaccination. Those having coupons will only be allowed to enter the centers.
Sources said that district officials have been asked to form a task force to ensure a smooth vaccination drive. Stresses have been given to organize vaccination on large ground or school buildings. All the Inspector-in-charge of police stations have to keep information of the vaccination centers in their jurisdiction. Like 'Duare Sarkar' camps. Vaccine booths should be identified.
Incidentally, around 20-25 people were injured while a stampede-like situation occurred outside a vaccine centre at Banarhat block under Jalpaiguri. Four injured people have been admitted to Jalpaiguri Superspecialty Hospital.