Ghaziabad, GB Nagar identify 13 clusters for 18+ age group

Ghaziabad: Under the cluster vaccination scheme for 18+ age group, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar have selected 13 vaccination sites where beneficiaries will arrive for on-spot registration and get themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 from Monday

Ghaziabad: Under the cluster vaccination scheme for 18+ age group, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar have selected 13 vaccination sites where beneficiaries will arrive for on-spot registration and get themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 from Monday.

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According to officials, the scheme has been initiated on a pilot basis on directions of the UP government which will launch a mega drive from July 1 to vaccinate about one million beneficiaries per day in the state.

The officials of the Ghaziabad health department said that they have chosen five sites at Bhojpur, Maharajpur, Sadik Nagar, Vasundhara and Adarsh Nagar (in Khoda) where about 14,500 vaccines will be administered per day under the scheme.

“We have roped in teams at each cluster to start vaccination for 18+ years’ category from June 21 to June 29 as per directions from the government. The beneficiaries will be able to do on-spot registration and vaccination thereafter. We will try to achieve about 28,000-30,000 vaccinations per day,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer, Ghaziabad.

“At present, we have about 110 teams working for vaccination. But from July 1, we plan to add 100 more teams as the target from July 1 will be revised,” he added.

Under the cluster vaccination scheme, several residential wards or villages have been identified in form of a cluster and teams will take up vaccination of beneficiaries at a central location accessible to residents. The teams under the pilot project will try to saturate entire 18+ category population and thereafter move to another cluster.

Starting July 1, similar pattern will be initiated widely across the entire 75 districts whose areas will be divided in number of clusters for vaccinating 18+ age group.

In GB Nagar, the officials said that they will be conducting about 14,000 vaccinations per day under the pilot project which is taken up in areas of Dadri and Jewar.

“For the 18+ on-spot vaccination pilot project, we have identified four clusters each in Dadri and Jewar. These will cover 72 villages with the help of 18 teams. At present, we are conducting a total of about 20,000 vaccinations per day,” said Dr Deepak Ohri, chief medical officer of GB Nagar, while adding that the district has 38,000 vaccine doses available and more will arrive in coming days.

Experts said that with the cluster scheme for 18+ category, the vaccination process will be simplified. “The health-care workers often face difficulties in vaccinating different age groups. With 18+ category starting now, the issues will be resolved. Further, the on-spot registrations will encourage residents to go to the nearest centre and get the jabs,” said Dr Ashish Agarwal, president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad).