Vaccination drive starts at malls

The health department started vaccinating residents at shopping malls on Sunday, as part of its plan to expand the vaccine outreach on weekends by setting up session sites that witness heavy footfall, officials familiar with the matter said

The health department started vaccinating residents at shopping malls on Sunday, as part of its plan to expand the vaccine outreach on weekends by setting up session sites that witness heavy footfall, officials familiar with the matter said. Two session sites were set up by the health department, at the Ambience Mall on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and City Mall on MG Road, on Sunday.

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Although the data on the number of people vaccinated at the malls was not available immediately, health department officials said they were equipped to provide 100 jabs, each.

“On Sunday, two session sites were set up at two of these malls and by the next weekend, more malls and commercial complexes across the city will be covered. We are trying to take vaccination to the people as a large part of the working population is not able to visit hospitals on weekdays,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

The department is also working out the modalities to start vaccinations and Covid-19 tests at Metro stations, said officials.

Next weekend, the health department said that more such vaccination sites will be set up in malls on Sohna Road, Golf Course Road, MG Road and also in Old Gurugram. “The city health department has been constantly innovating in collaboration with district administration to expand the vaccination outreach. We are, perhaps, the first in the country to set up vaccination in malls, condominiums, offices and industrial units,” said Yadav.

On Sunday, 9,825 beneficiaries over 45 years of age were inoculated.

Officials also said that today despite it being a Sunday, the department managed to vaccinate almost 10,000 people as part of the ‘tika utsav’, which commenced on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said states should observe a ‘vaccine festival’ or ‘tika utsav’ between April 11-14 to inoculate the maximum number of eligible beneficiaries against Covid-19.

The vaccinations were carried out at 115 session sites, of which 60 were at government facilities while the rest were at private hospitals. The total number of people vaccinated in the city stands at 251,000, said health officials, adding that they expect to cover at least 30,000 more beneficiaries in the next two days.

Overall, the state administered 113,917 vaccine doses to beneficiaries, as part of the ‘tika utsav’. Additional chief secretary, health, Rajeev Arora said that a total of 2,469,233 vaccine doses have been administered in the state so far.