Khattar assures of special camps to vaccinate underprivileged

Khattar was in the city to address a grievance redressal session on Tuesday and made the statement while answering a query regarding the underprivileged population being missed out from the drive due to the ongoing shortage

With the district health department struggling to hold vaccinations amid a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that vaccination camps will be held in the city to cover the underprivileged population.

Khattar was in Gurugram on Tuesday. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Khattar was in the city to address a grievance redressal session on Tuesday and made the statement while answering a query regarding the underprivileged population being missed out from the drive due to the ongoing shortage.

First dose inoculations at government health centres have remained suspended for the past few days. On Wednesday too, only the second shot will be administered, as the health department will hold vaccinations at only six health centres. Officials said that 200 Covaxin doses will be given at five health centres, at Badshshpur, Tigra, Manesar, Chauma and Chanderlok, while 200 Covishield doses will be given at the Sector 31 polyclinic.

“Vaccination progress of Gurugram is satisfactory as almost 15.5 lakh (1.55 million) have been administered vaccine out of the 25 lakh (2.5 million) population in the district. Despite the progress, for reaching out to the poor population, the chief medical officer will permit holding the vaccination camps,” said Khattar, while addressing the media after the grievance redressal meeting.

It is for the first time in more than two years that a complaint regarding the health department was placed during the grievance committee meeting, which is held every month by the chief minister in the district to resolve issues related to land encroachment, industrial development and electricity supply, among others.

Many people who work as daily wage labourers and servants have been facing difficulties in getting vaccinated over the past few days, as they are unaware of the vaccination schedule at health facilities.

According to the chief medical officer for Gurugram, Dr Virender Yadav, the first dose inoculations will be suspended and second doses will be given only at a few sites. “Vaccination camps will be increased based on the supply of doses. The department was running a mobile vaccination van until last week to increase the coverage among the poor population,” said Yadav.

The CM said that vaccines are issued to the state by the Central government based on the population count. Sputnik V inoculations have also started in the district and the supply will increase as more vaccine contenders will enter the market, he said.

As per the data available with the health department, 1,587,152 doses of vaccines have been administered in the district. On Tuesday, about 17,187 vaccine shots were administered after the health department received around 15,000 doses of Covishield on Monday night. At least 12,180 doses were administered at government health centres, while 5,007 jabs were administered at private hospitals.