The special vaccination drive, initiated by the State government to tackle COVID-19, received good response from the people in the city on Sunday. A total of 1,10,147 people were given the jab at the ward secretariats as part of the drive.
People above 45 years of age and women with children below five years of age were vaccinated in the drive. The drive kick-started at 7 a.m. at all the 572 ward secretariats. Till 2 p.m., 84,461 eligible people were vaccinated. By 7 p.m., around 1,10,000 people were vaccinated, according to the Greater Visakhatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) officials.
Doctors, nurses, Health Department officials, ASHA workers, ANMs, ward volunteers and other staff from the ward secretariats coordinated in the conduct of the drive. Ward volunteers informed people about the drive through phone calls and group messages.
Mayor G. Hari Venkata Kumari inspected the drive at Ward Nos. 11 and 13 at Arilova area. After receiving orders about the drive on Friday, District Collector V. Vinay Chand organised a meet with the officials and directed them to take up the programme. District Immunisation Officer Jeevan Rani said that 578 health officers, 578 vaccinators, as many as 2,890 other health staff and 611 ASHA workers took part in the drive.
Additional Commissioner V. Sanyasi Rao inspected the drive at ward secretariats in Allipuram (Ward No. 32), Priyadarshini Colony (Ward No. 35) and the City Operations Centre (COO).
GVMC Commissioner G. Srijana took to social media to congratulate GVMC staff and the Health Department officials for the smooth and successful conduct of the drive. She said that the GVMC aimed at one lakh vaccinations and the team exceeded the target.
