52,000 eligible inoculated on first day in Chittoor

Tirupati: The 'Tika Utsav' programme aimed at covering the maximum number of beneficiaries to get vaccinated has achieved the desired results on the first day. It was aimed at vaccinating 60,000 beneficiaries of above 45 years and the left over frontline and healthcare workers at 102 rural and 18 urban centres with a target of administering 500 shots at each centre.

The district received 60,000 doses on Tuesday out of which 45,000 Covishield and 15,000 Covaxin doses are there. The programme began at 7 am on Wednesday and by 4.30 pm about 51,200 people took the shots and stood on top among the 13 districts in the state.

District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) Dr M Penchalaiah said that by evening, they will complete the target. He said that they will get another 50,000 doses on Thursday which will be administered on Friday.

District Collector M Hari Narayanan has monitored the progress of vaccination continuously from the morning. He said divisional command control rooms were set up at Chittoor, Tirupati and Madanapalle where the Sub-collectors and RDO have monitored the situation while Municipal Commissioner took over the responsibility in urban areas and MPDOs and Tahsildars in rural areas.

He directed the officials to create awareness among people on the importance of taking the vaccine. Apart from targeting 45 years above people and frontline and healthcare workers, he asked them to focus on those who have to take their second doses. Staff of the medical and health department and volunteers should go door-to-door to educate the eligible people on the importance of Covid vaccine.

Meanwhile, the district reported 517 new Covid positive cases out of which Tirupati urban and rural account for 277 cases. The total number of positive cases in the district has crossed 96,000 while active cases surpassed 5,000 mark. Causing concern Covid deaths are being reported every day and with the three deaths on Wednesday, the death toll has gone up to 899.