Mega Vaccination Drive: 1.93Lakh shots given on a single day in Chittoor

Tirupati: The Covid vaccination drive has been going on swiftly in Chittoor district where 1.93 lakh shots were administered on Sunday itself. With this, the district has so far vaccinated 31.68 lakh people since the drive began in January this year.

The special drive was continued till midnight on Sunday to complete the target of 2.03 lakh doses which were given both as first and second doses.

On the previous day, another special drive was carried out and vaccinated 93,248 people with their second doses. As the 18 plus age group people were getting their shots, the programme has gathered momentum. District Collector M Hari Narayanan monitored the special drive closely from morning to night to complete the stipulated target.

He said 46,819 healthcare workers have taken their first shots so far while 45,356 of them have taken second dose as well. Similarly, out of 1,07,125 lakh frontline workers who were vaccinated with first dose, 97,536 have got second dose too.

Among the 18-45 age group 7,38,979 have got their first shot while 1,31,481 were given second dose also. Further, 11,26,620 persons of above 45 years age group took their first shot whereas 7,29,306 of them got the second dose as well.

The district administration has allotted one special officer to each mandal to complete the vaccination targets during the special drive which was held at 157 sites. The village/ward volunteers were asked to identify 15 persons each to administer the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Covid second wave has been continuing in the district where the highest number of daily cases in the state were reported on a number of occasions. Though the overall number of cases were seen in a decreasing trend, still the positivity rate in the district is around 2.50 percent and there are more than five positive cases in about 66 secretariats.

While the total number of positive cases were 10,923 in July, they have come down to 6,963 in August whereas during the first 11 days in September 2,357 cases have been reported.

Still the district has been reporting around 200 positive cases daily on an average and the figure has not come down below 100 during the last four months.

In view of this, the officials have focussed on completing the vaccination process to all eligible persons. In addition, they have been gearing up to face the third wave and making all arrangements at hospitals to face any eventualities.