Hyderabad: Telangana on Tuesday became the first among the large states in India to achieve 100 per cent administration of the first dose of Covid vaccination. Announcing this after cutting a cake to mark the occasion at the office of the director of public health & family welfare, health minister T. Harish Rao told reporters that by achieving this feat, Telangana had set a record.
The targeted population given by the Centre to Telangana for Covid vaccinations was 27,767,000 based on the 2011 census data and population projections till 2020. The state had completed the target of providing the first dose of vaccines, and would step up coverage of the second dose and hoped to achieve this goal by the second or third week of January, the minister said.
Telangana’s achievement in delivering the first dose of Covid vaccines to the people was a result of dedication and hard work of health department staff, and the cooperation they received from the municipal administration & urban development and the panchayat raj departments, and their ministers K.T. Rama Rao and Erabelli Dayakar Rao, he said.
Harish Rao said Telangana’s focused approach to Covid containment on all fronts, and particularly the stress on vaccination drive was made possible because of the stewardship of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, who took it upon himself to monitor vaccination progress, regularly directed district administrations and other officials to ensure everyone eligible got vaccinated, the health minister said.
Particular credit must be given to the extremely hard-working Asha, and ANMs at the ground level, and the doctors who went beyond their call of duty to provide protection against Covid to the people of the state, Harish Rao said.
What it took to get to 100 % first dose coverage
· 7,970 teams
· 35,000 state health staff
· 10,000 vaccinators
· 3,500 govt vaccination centres
· 264 private vaccination centres
