City sees surge in vaccination amid fears of Omicron threat

Hyderabad: Amid fears of getting infected with the new potential strain of coronavirus, many in the city, especially those who have not taken the vaccine till now, are now queueing up at vaccination centres to get the shot. With this the State-run hospitals, Primary Health Centres and special drives set up by social workers are witnessing a surge in immunisation.

It can be recalled here that the State government has been running special vaccination drives to achieve the cent per cent inoculation in the State. However, due to hesitance to vaccine, many citizens have not taken the jab, and those who already took the first dose have skipped their second dose. Vaccine coverage in Old City areas is very low with around 35 per cent of eligible yet to take the first dose and over 3.5 lakh awaiting second dose to become fully-vaccinated. According to staff at Osmania General Hospital, the number of people coming for vaccine has increased in the last few days. "Earlier, only a handful of people were taking jabs. But, now with the new strain of coronavirus being discovered, people in the last two to three days are turning up in large numbers to take the vaccine. Most of the people who are coming here are getting their first dose and the number for those taking vaccination has been increased," informed officials.

Similar surge is seen at the Government area hospitals and Urban Primary Health Centres. A doctor working at a Primary Health Centre in Old City said that though the government had set up additional vaccination centres as part of its special drive in each area, not many turned up to take the vaccine. Now the number has increased. The Health and ASHA workers were also conducting a door-to-door survey and encouraging people to get vaccinated, he said.

"Now even people suffering from just cold and fever are also visiting the centre for testing of virus. As most of the PHCs and Basti Dawakhanas lack testing, they are being referred to State-run hospitals," he added. Meanwhile, several religious organisations in the city have also agreed to be part of the vaccination where locals are hesitant of taking the vaccine. Around 100 volunteers, counsellors and vaccinators from mosques are helping with the immunisation drive. "As the new variant has been declared by the World Health Organisation, we are now explaining about the possible threat and asking them to be extra cautious and careful besides appealing them to take vaccine," informed Mujtaba Hasan Askari of Helping Hand Foundation.

Recently, in Old City, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and District Collector L Sharman attended a special vaccination drive and appealed to the citizens to take two doses of vaccine to stop Covid spread and also held a door-to-door campaign and urged the inhabitants to get fully-vaccinated.