Vijayawada: Covid vaccine administration planned at village secretariats

Vijayawada: With gradual rise of Covid cases in recent days in the State, the State government is considering to administer Covid vaccine at the village secretariats also for the convenience of senior citizens and those who are above 45 years with co-morbidities.

The Krishna district administration on Saturday successfully conducted trial run of administering Covid vaccine at two village secretariats at Chandragudem village of Mylavaram mandal and Chillakallu village of Jaggaiahpet mandal.

The Covid positive cases have been increasing for the past few days. The total active cases crossed 2,000 mark on Saturday and it is a worrying factor to the people as well as the government.

A total of 147 cases were registered on March 15, 261 cases on March 16, 253 cases on March 17, 218 cases on March 18, 246 cases on March 19 and 380 cases registered on Saturday and total active cases shot up to 2,083. On March 14, only 1443 active cases were in the State. By Saturday, total positive cases in the State are 8,93,366 and 8,84,094 of them recovered and 7189 died due to Covid.

The State government has already made arrangements for the vaccination at more than 1600 hospitals, community health centres, PHCs, area hospitals, private hospitals etc. The ward secretariats will be in addition to the existing hospitals and centres.

The government has chosen Krishna district for Covid vaccination programme at the village secretariats as the pilot project. The one-day programme at Chandragudem evoked good response as several hundred elderly people and those who are aged above 45 years with co-morbidities visited the village secretariat and received the jabs.

It may be noted that the vaccination programme is continuing in the State as part of nation-wide programme. Krishna District Collector Md Imtiaz along with the Mylavaram MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad inaugurated the Covid vaccination programme at Chandragudem village of Mylavaram mandal.

Speaking on the occasion, the Collector said everyone must take Covid vaccine. He said the State government is planning to administer the vaccine at the village secretariats for the convenience of elderly people and people aged over 45 years with co-morbidities.

Collector Imtiaz said 44 new cases were registered during the last 24 hours in the district and total active cases shot up to 230 by Saturday.

Mylavaram MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad, Krishna district medical and health officer Dr M Suhasini, Joint Director of medical and health department Srihari, AMC chairman P Srinivasa Rao, other officials and villagers attended the vaccination programme.