BENGALURU: About 5,000 people were administered Covishield vaccine at a free vaccination drive conducted by MPL Sports Foundation in association with Manipal Hospitals and minister ST Somashekhar on Thursday at Kengeri.
Manipal Hospitals had planned to cover 5,000 people at one camp in a single day and it achieved that target. The drive, which began at 9.30am, had people queuing up from 6.30am.
Pramod Kunder, hospital director, Manipal Hospitals, Malleswaram, (Manipal Hospital Northside) said, “Although the number of non-Covid patients have increased in our hospital, we managed to send some of our highly trained nurses for this initiative as vaccinating as many citizens was our focus. We dedicated 20 nurses, one doctor and one ambulance to this activity.” A shelter was created to ensure vaccine seekers were not inconvenienced by the rain. Post vaccination, the recipients were provided with juice and a meal.
Dr Kavi Prasad, who oversaw the initiative, said, “Initially we did have a couple of technical glitches with the Co-Win portal, but that was quickly sorted out. The drive was carried out smoothly. Preference was given to the elderly and the disabled. In fact, the first person to take the jab was a blind person.” There were 20 vaccination stations and 20 people were vaccinated at a time. Minister Somashekhar inaugurated the drive. “The floating population at the venue was 500 to 600 but with the help of a few volunteers we tried to maintain social distancing and other Covid norms,” Dr Prasad said.
.jpg?w=600)
