The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will send teams to houses to identify the people who are fully or partially unvaccinated and give them appointments to take their jabs at vaccination centres run by the civic body.
KMC officials at a meeting on Wednesday decided to ensure that the entire population of the city eligible for the Covid shot is inoculated against the disease.
A civic official said they had started preparing appointment slips that will be handed to unvaccinated persons.
“It was decided at Wednesday’s meeting that we will set up teams in each ward to visit homes and check if anyone is unvaccinated. We will motivate them to take the jab and offer them a slot in the nearest KMC-run vaccination centre,” said an official.
According to the CoWIN portal, 50.05 lakh doses were administered in the city till 8.30pm on Wednesday. These comprise doses given at KMC centres, government hospitals and private clinics.
Out of the doses administered during the day, 16.38 lakh were given to second jab recipients. “We still have a good number of people who have to take their second dose,” said a KMC doctor.
The KMC centres of late have been recording a drop in the number of second dose recipients.
Many of those whose second doses have become due are not turning up.
The KMC had initially planned to call up all those who had taken their first dose at its centres and whose second dose had become due and urge them not to miss out on the second jab.
Besides, the KMC’s data has revealed that about 30 per cent of those vaccinated at its centres were residents of districts. Some of them work in Kolkata, while others were forced to make the journey because of shortage of doses in districts.
“Not all of the 50 lakh odd people who were vaccinated today are residents of Kolkata. This means some residents of Kolkata are yet to take the vaccine. We have to identify them and motivate them to get vaccinated. As restrictions are being gradually lifted, vaccination will be our key weapon to prevent future surges,” an official in the KMC’s health department said.
The civic body is hoping to ramp up vaccination from its centres following the promise of a better supply this month.
The Union government has promised to send 1.33 crore doses this month, which will be substantially more than the number of doses received in June and July. The state received over 1 crore doses in August.