GB Nagar admin starts vaccination camps in rural areas

Noida: In order to ensure easy access to Covid-19 vaccination in rural areas of the district, the Gautam Budh Nagar administration on Monday held inoculation camps in six villages for people aged 45 years and above

Noida: In order to ensure easy access to Covid-19 vaccination in rural areas of the district, the Gautam Budh Nagar administration on Monday held inoculation camps in six villages for people aged 45 years and above. The beneficiaries were registered on Co-WIN app and vaccinated on the spot, officials said.

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The drive was held in Khatana and Dabara in Dadri sub-division, Miyana and Mirzapur in Dankaur sub-division and Thora and Bhaipur in Jewar sub-division. A total of 572 people were vaccinated across the villages on the first day, the officials said.

“The camp has been held so that none of the people in 45+ age group are left without the first dose of vaccine. We found that many people in this age group had already got their first dose. Registration of people living in rural areas is already underway at the common service centres in the villages,” said Prasun Dwivedi, sub-divisional magistrate (Sadar), GB Nagar.

The officials said more such vaccination camps will be organised in rural areas in the coming days to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.

“Going forward, we will continue to hold the vaccination camps in more villages where people can be registered on the spot and get vaccinated there itself. This initiative has been taken because some people’s representatives informed us that the rural population finds it difficult to book slots online,” said Dr Neeraj Tyagi, district immunisation officer, GB Nagar.

Dhirendra Singh, member of legislative assembly from Jewar constituency, said that many residents of the villages had complained that they could not find any empty slots on Co-WIN and hence were unable to get registered.

“These complaints were from the younger people, while most of the older population does not even have a smartphone. So, an initiative to bring vaccination camps to the rural population is much needed,” said Singh.

On Monday, a total of 10,418 people were vaccinated in the district, of which 7,303 were from 18-45 age group, the officials said.

Vaccination camp in Ghaziabad

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Ghaziabad district, a vaccination camp will be organised at the ART (Anti Retroviral Therapy) Centre in the MMG District Hospital for people living with HIV, transgenders and intravenous drug users aged above 45 years from June 2 to 5.

“We have identified 690 people above the age of 45 years who will be covered under the vaccination campaign. Of these, 598 are persons living with HIV, 52 are intravenous drug users and 40 are transgenders. Some NGOs helped us collate the data,” said Dr Sheel Varma, medical officer at ART centre, MMG District Hospital, Ghaziabad.

The vaccination drive will be carried out from 10am to 2pm and Covishield will be administered there.

“These groups of people usually live in secrecy and experience stigma because of which they may get left out for vaccination. Hence, with the help of the district administration and the NGOs working with these groups, the vaccination drive will help break the chain of Covid-19 infection,” said Varma.