Hyderabad: Vaccination drive held for Rachakonda cops

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda Commissionerate conducted a vaccination drive for over 500 traffic police personnel on Sunday at City Armed Reserve (CAR) Police Headquarters, Amberpet, Hyderabad. The vaccination drive by Rachakonda Police Commissionerate was organised and supported by Bharat Biotech, United Ways of Hyderabad, and Nice Hospital.

The chief guest at the event Sunpreet Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, LB Nagar, flagged off the vaccination drive in the presence of Dr Jalachari Ella, head- corporate strategy, Bharat Biotech, Rekha Srinivasan, CEO, United Way of Hyderabad, and Rakhi Nair, programme officer, Nice Foundation. Also present at the event were, Additional DCPs Manohar, Shankar and Shamir.

The aim of the vaccination drive was to immunise the traffic police against typhoid infection. As they spend odd hours on the field during duty, many times they end up having no access to safe water and food. This puts them at risk for typhoid infection.

In his address, Sunpreet Singh said, "This is a great initiative, today with the help of Bharat Biotech, United Way of Hyderabad and Nice Foundation we vaccinated over 500 Rachakonda police staff," adding, "When our policemen are at work they may consume contaminated water or food and are prone to typhoid, I am happy they are now immunized against typhoid infection. He also divulged that he himself was twice infected with typhoid."

Dr Jalachari Ella said, "We are extremely pleased to have this opportunity to support this immunisation programme. Bharat Biotech is focused on protecting people around the world against emerging diseases through vaccine and biotherapeutics, we are in the forefront of several CSR programmes helping to address public health through partnership with foundations such as United Ways and NICE."

Rekha Srinivasan said, "we are excited to partner with Rachakonda police Commissionerate on this vaccination drive. We value our police service personnel and want to do our bit in protecting them. We are also happy to join hands with Bharat Biotech, the pioneers in developing vaccines that are accessible for the masses as well as with Nice Hospital in delivering them."

Bharat Biotech offered vaccine for immunisation against typhoid called Typbar TVC®. It is the world's first WHO prequalified vaccine. TCV is safe to be administered for the age group from 6 months-60 years.

Vaccination to all the traffic police personnel at Rachakonda Commissionerate will provide safety against Typhoid infection for at least a decade.