Four 'Vaccination Express' vehicles with jab doses and healthcare workers were flagged off on Monday to fan out across East Singhbhum district and step up the immunisation drive among those over 45.
Present on the occasion at the district collectorate at Sakchi were East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Suraj Kumar, JMM's Potka MLA Sanjeev Sardar and Manoj Jha, personal secretary of health minister Banna Gupta.
Two of the vehicles (Innova) carrying Covid vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) left for rural areas of Ghatshila and Potka, while the remaining vehicles will go around urban areas of the district.
"Four Vaccination Express vans with the Covid vaccine will now be available at people's doorstep with trained health workers," said deputy commissioner Suraj Kumar, adding that the vaccination will cover people of above 45 of age group.
Health department officials said Vaccination Express will also help immunise elderly people who are unable to travel.
"The vehicles with vaccines and trained health staff will go to various localities in urban areas and rural blocks where people can get vaccinated," said A.K. Lal, civil surgeon of East Singhbhum district.
He said that if required more such vehicles would be introduced for the success of the Covid vaccination drive in the district.
According to health department sources, in all 3,68,793 people have been vaccinated in East Singhbhum. Of these, 3,02,610 have got their first dose. Only 66,183 people are fully vaccinated in the district.
Notably, the number of Covid positive cases which had crossed the daily mark of 1,000 in the first three weeks of May, has dropped considerably in the district during the last few days. Last week, the number of positive cases for six consecutive days dropped below 100.
But, on Monday positive cases again witnessed a slight rise. As many as 283 new positive cases were reported with eight casualties. The 283 new cases reported on Monday took the district’s total tally to 50,131 reported since the beginning of the pandemic last year.
According to a health bulletin the recovery rate of the district rose to 96.04 per cent
