Youths go for jab in Madhya Pradesh, enthusiasm marks 1st day of vaccination for 18-44 age group
Bhopal: Inoculation began for people between 18 to 44 years of age in the state on Wednesday. The vaccination of people above 44 years of age is also underway.
Long queues were seen outside vaccination centres in city since morning. The vaccination will take place on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at all the notified centres other than district hospitals and medical college hospitals of the state. At district hospitals and medical college hospitals, inoculation will be held only on Tuesday and Friday.
As per National Health Mission, all beneficiaries born before May 1 ,2003, are eligible for vaccination.
On Wednesday, vaccination began at 104 centres in Madhya Pradesh with 10,400 doses of vaccines. In all, 416 session sites have been allocated for vaccination on May 8 and May 10 while 960 session sites have earmarked for May 12, May 13 and May 15.
Enthusiasm marked 1st day of vaccination for 18-44 age group. Several people in the age group of 18 to 44 queued up outside inoculation centres in Madhya Pradesh as the COVID-19 vaccination drive for this category began in the state on Wednesday.
A vaccination centre for this age group has been set up in each of the 52 districts of MP, Additional Director, Health, Dr Santosh Shukla said.
“The vaccination began at these centres from 9 am on Wednesday,” he said. The official said 100 people will be administered the vaccine doses on Wednesday at these centres as per pre-allotted slots.
In the industrial hub of Indore, Ankit Shrivastava, a 33-year-old legal officer with an insurance company, was the first to receive the vaccine dose at the inoculation camp set up at the municipal corporation headquarters.
After receiving the jab, Shrivastava told reporters that he had been keeping a tab on news for the last several days about when about the vaccination for his age group would begin.
“I finally took the first shot of the vaccine today. This is the only effective weapon against COVID-19,” he said.
In the state capital Bhopal, a number of people were seen standing in a queue outside the vaccination centre at Girls Higher Secondary School in Tulsi Nagar area.
Local resident Monika Gupta was the first person to receive the jab in this age category at the inoculation centre here.
Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday reported 12,236 fresh COVID-19 cases and 98 fatalities, taking the tally of infections to 6,12,666 and the toll to 6,003, as per the state health department.
The caseload in Indore, the worst hit by the viral infection in MP, stood at 1,18,085, including 1,169 deaths.
The infection count in Bhopal stood at 96,476, including 764 fatalities, as per official figures.
Meanwhile, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan assured that government will vaccinate 9 lakh people in May. “This month, we will vaccinate 9 lakh people. Till May 15, we will administer 1.5 lakh vaccine doses,” he said.
Chouhan on Thursday had informed that the third phase of the vaccination drive which was earlier scheduled to commence on May 1 would be delayed due to the unavailability of vaccines with the state government.
According to the Union Health Ministry, Madhya Pradesh had 86,639 active COVID-19 cases. 889 new cases and 98 related deaths were registered in the state over the part 24 hours.
