The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (CMC) is ready to set up Covid vaccination camps in clubs and housing complexes to administer precaution doses if it receives such requests, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Saturday.
He urged people to take their precaution doses if they wanted to celebrate Durga Puja without fear.
A senior CMC official said the civic body was administering between 17,000 and 20,000 precaution doses every day, but at this pace, it would not be able to vaccinate the entire 18-59 years population of Calcutta by September 30, when the window for administering precaution doses for free to this age group will end. It started on July 15.
The official said to vaccinate the whole eligible population by September 30, the CMC should be administering around 30,000 doses a day.
“We are administering precaution doses to everyone who is turning up in our vaccination centres. Between 17,000 and 20,000 people have been turning up in our vaccination centres on an average every day,” said the official.
The KMC has 152 Covid vaccination centres.
“I will urge everyone to take their precaution doses if they want to celebrate and enjoy Puja. The 75-day window to administer precaution doses (to those who are between 18 and 59 years) will end on September 30. I will urge everyone who is eligible for the precaution dose to take the dose by September 30,” Hakim said.
“The CMC will go to housing complexes and clubs to vaccinate people. They have to provide us with an air-conditioned room, an Internet connection and there should be at least 100 people who will take their precaution doses from these camps,” he added,
The mayor said he wanted the clubs to come forward and help the CMC to organise vaccination camps.
According to the state health department, 69,57,367 precaution doses were administered till Saturday.