Prior registration or on-the-spot inoculation to be decided by evening 

Mysore/Mysuru: A mega vaccination drive will begin in Mysuru district from 10 am tomorrow (June 21) to inoculate all those between the target age group of 18 and 44 and the District Administration has geared up for the event that coincides with the International Day of Yoga (IDY) that also falls tomorrow.

The State Government has set itself an ambitious target of inoculating seven lakh people on this day. The theme of IDY-2021 is ‘be with yoga, be at home’ because of the raging pandemic situation and the lockdown and recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced free vaccines for beneficiaries of 18 to 44 category from June 21 to coincide with IDY.

Health and Family Welfare Department officials said that the mega ‘Lasika Mela’ would be launched tomorrow as a special drive to cover all eligible groups: 18-44 age group, 45-plus age group, health workers, frontline workers and vulnerable groups. 

Karnataka has a stock of 14 lakh vaccines and in Mysuru, both the district and Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) combined, a target has been set to vaccinate 45,000 people in a single day. 

Mysuru has received 39,000 doses of Covishield and 12,000 doses of Covaxin for tomorrow’s drive and the district has a population of 16 lakh between 18 and 44 years. 

Each vaccination centre in the district will get a minimum of 150 vials and a maximum of 500. As of now, the jabs will be administered on a first-come-first-serve basis and a decision on prior booking will be taken this evening.

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, Dr. L. Ravi, Reproductive and Child Health Officer (RCHO) and Nodal Officer for COVID-19 vaccination in Government Hospitals, said that there are 175 vaccination sites in Mysuru including 166 Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Taluk Hospitals. 

“Vaccines will reach all taluks by this evening and we will get the guidelines from the State Government in view of confusion whether vaccination can be done on-the-spot or with prior registration on CoWIN                          portal,” he added.

Unlike earlier, this time, there will be no Government vaccination sites in Private Hospitals. “Vaccination will be done only in Government-recognised sites, PHCs, CHCs and Urban Health Centres. Beneficiaries have to bring their Aadhaar Cards or Identity Card issued by the State or Union Government or a letter of authentication duly signed by any Government Officer,” he added.

Special drive by MCC

The MCC is also conducting a special vaccination drive to inoculate over 20,000 Government employees tomorrow. “We will exclusively vaccinate employees from our own MCC, Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW), Engineering Section, Underground Drainage section, Police, Revenue Section and all the other departments. Seven teams have been formed for this exercise and we are all set,” MCC Health Officer Dr. D.G. Nagaraj said.

Following instruction from District Minister S.T. Somashekar and Deputy Commissioner Dr. Bagadi Gautham, more vaccines will be allotted to Mysuru city that has a huge population when compared to taluks. Even the MLAs have requested for more vaccines to their Constituencies in city to ensure more coverage of people.