Around 4,800 people across 48 centres in Jharkhand will be immunised on Saturday, the inaugural day of the Covid-19 vaccination drive which will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 10.30 am from Delhi.

In Ranchi, chief minister Hemant Soren will be present at the Sadar hospital vaccine centre to oversee the proceedings and interact with a few beneficiaries, said deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan,

The drive will take place at 48 centres against the earlier plan of 129 centres, and at each centre 100 beneficiaries would be immunised. State health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said the number of centres had been trimmed following directives from the Union government.

“We had readied 129 centres for the vaccination drive with a plan to inoculate 100 at each centre. However, the Union government has asked us to limit the number of centres so that drive can be managed rationally. Hence, every district will conduct a vaccination drive at two centres to begin with,” he said.

Jharkhand has received 1,62,000 doses of Covishield vaccine. One vial contains 5ml which will serve 10 doses. Each beneficiary will have to be given 0.5ml.

An official of the state chapter of the National Health Mission said, “Each vial contains doses for 10 people. Since each vial has to be exhausted in four hours of its opening, we have to be very careful that it doesn’t get wasted. Although the government has conducted awareness camps for selected beneficiaries as a part of confidence building measures, there are chances that many may have second thoughts for fear of side-effects. Hence, we need to be cautious.”

He said districts were, however, free to conduct a vaccination drive at two centres everyday if required. “Every registered beneficiary will get an sms in advance about the time and place of the inoculation,” the official said.

In Ranchi, the vaccine will be administered at Sadar hospital and the health centre at Namkum. On Friday, deputy commissioner Ranjan and his team took stock of preparations.

“We are ready. At each vaccine centre, five persons—four vaccine officers and a vaccinator _ will be deployed. This apart, a sufficient number of security guards and volunteers will be present to ensure proper social distancing,” he said.

Ranchi’s Sadar hospital and Jamshedpur’s MGM hospital have been equipped with webcasting facilities for the authorities, both in Ranchi and Delhi, can monitor proceedings.

District administration sources maintained that the Prime Minister may also choose to interact with beneficiaries.

As many as 10,000 beneficiaries have been identified for vaccination in the first phase in Ranchi. The state government has identified 99.89 lakh for receiving the vaccine of which about 1.25 lakh, mostly health workers, will be vaccinated in the first phase.