The Calcutta Municipal Corporation will begin Covid-19 vaccination at 120 ward health clinics from mid-April, up from 80 clinics where jabs are being given now.
The civic body has also targeted expanding Covid vaccination to all the 144 ward health clinics by the end of this month.
Expanding the vaccination facilities to all localities is required to ensure that everyone has a vaccination centre within a short distance from their homes, said a senior CMC official.
After the Covid-19 vaccination for people above 45 started from April 1, the civic authorities feel that there would be an increased rush at the existing clinics. So, there is a need to add more clinics where the vaccination would take place, said an official.
From Thursday, anyone aged 45 or above could get a Covid shot. Till Wednesday, senior citizens and people between 45 and 59 with comorbidities were eligible for vaccine doses.
A spike in the number of daily infections has also made it necessary to quickly vaccinate as many people as possible.
“We will run vaccination from 120 ward health clinics from the middle of April. We are also targeting to start vaccination in all the 144 ward health clinics in Calcutta from the end of April,” said Subrata Roy Chowdhury, the chief municipal health officer of the CMC.
“Our health clinics are present in each of the 144 wards of Calcutta and they will play a very crucial role in vaccinating the community. So, we are increasing the number of vaccination centres gradually,” he added.
Public health experts have said that wearing masks, washing hands frequently and getting vaccinated are the measures people should take to prevent the spread of Covid.
The bulletin published on the state health department’s website on Friday showed that 1,733 persons tested positive for Covid-19 in the state on Thursday, 513 of them in the city. The bulletin published on Thursday showed that 1,274 persons tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, 399 of them from Calcutta.
A doctor of the CMC said that the number of infected people was rising sharply every day. Calcutta recorded the highest number of Covid cases in Bengal on Thursday as well as Friday.
A month ago, the numbers were much lower, though the spike started around then. The bulletin published on March 2 showed that 171 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the state on March 1, 70 of them in the city.
There are many places that do not have a vaccination centre nearby. “Our attempt is to provide a vaccination centre near everyone’s home. Getting a vaccine is everyone’s right. There could be many people who do not have the time and scope to travel some distance and take the vaccine. So, we are expanding the facility so that everyone gets the opportunity to take the vaccine,” said a CMC official.
Arnab Ray, a resident of Naktala and an associate professor of English at a city college, took the jab at CMC’s Ward 100 health clinic on Friday. Ray’s mother and wife also took the jab at the clinic.
“I had gone to Ward 100 health clinic a couple of weeks ago but the officials there asked me to go to the health clinic in Ward 98 to get vaccinated. When I visited the Ward 100 health clinic again on Friday, the officials said that they are vaccinating now. So, we took the vaccine there,” said Ray. He added that there was no other healthcare facility close to his home that was administering the vaccine. The CMC’s clinic administering the vaccine helped him, he said.
The jabs at CMC’s clinics are being administered free of cost.
The CMC had vaccinated 8,800 persons at its vaccination centres on Thursday.
“Our immediate aim is to vaccinate 10,000 people every day. As the number of vaccination centres increase, we will target a higher number every day,” said an official.
