The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will start a door-to-door campaign to request elderly residents and those between 45 and 59 with comorbidities to get vaccinated against Covid-19, an official of the civic body said.

The BMC operates 12 centres in Salt Lake, Baguiati, Rajarhat, Ashwininagar and other places, where these two categories of people are getting Covid shots.

However, the turnout at nearly all the centres is low. An official of the corporation’s health department said they wanted to reverse the trend and maximise the number of people turning up for vaccination against Covid.

Each vaccination centre run by the BMC can administer at least 300 Covid shots daily. They are administering around 70 shots on an average, an official said.

Covid-19 cases are on the rise in the areas under the BMC. “There has been a rise in the number of positive cases being reported from Salt Lake, Rajarhat, Teghoria and other places under the civic body,” the official said.

“In the past four days, 50 coronavirus cases have been reported from various areas under the civic body,” said Kusum Adhikary, the health officer of the BMC.

Public health professionals and other experts have been saying that only rapid vaccination and strict adherence to safety protocols could prevent another surge in Covid cases.

Another reason for launching the door-to-door campaign is to let people know about the civic clinics that are administering Covid shots.

“A lot of people are still unaware that coronavirus vaccines are being administered at health units and primary health centres run by the BMC. Our health workers will hand over lists of the centres to the residents,” the official said.

The health teams will also distribute a printed form in which a doctor has to certify whether someone between 45 and 59 has comorbidities. Only the doctor’s certificate in the prescribed format will be considered, said officials. The format can also be downloaded from mygov.in/covid-19/.

Officials of the BMC’s health department said that during the door-to-door campaign, they would also ask residents to avoid crowded places, wear masks in public places and follow the physical distancing protocol.