The Covid-19 vaccination drive will begin in Dhanbad from Saturday at the community health centres in Tundi and Topchanchi where 100 cleanliness workers will be vaccinated on the first day.

Deputy commissioner Uma Shankar Singh has confirmed it at the district collectorate on Friday and said that as many as 16,000 health workers have been registered for vaccination in the first phase.

“The vaccination will begin at 10:30 am on Saturday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch it virtually from New Delhi. Around 100 cleanliness workers at each of the two centres will be vaccinated,” said Singh.

“In the second phase, frontline workers, district administration officials, police officials and many others will be vaccinated,” he said, adding that the people will get information about the vaccination through SMSes and calls.

“People will be vaccinated after their physical examination,” said Singh. He also instructed the district control room officials, police and block-level officials to act firmly against rumour-mongers.

“The vaccination will be carried out with extra precaution and care. According to the standard operating procedure, three clean and sanitized rooms, uninterrupted electricity supply, high-speed internet access, proper arrangement of cleanliness and sanitation, drinking water, sanitiser and webcasting facility will be available at both the centres,” Singh said.

“All the arrangements have been made to deal with any emergency at Sadar Hospital and Sahid Nirmal Mahto Memorial Medical College,” said Singh.

Meanwhile, a dry run was also conducted at both the centres on Friday. On January 8, the dry run was carried out at nine centres of the district.