Mega vaccination drive in Lucknow today targets 1L jabs

Lucknow, Sep 6 (IANS) Lucknow will carry out a mega vaccination drive on Monday with the aim of vaccinating one lakh people.

This will be the highest inoculations in a single day since the start of the mass immunisation campaign in January this year. The record so far is of 93,436 vaccinations on August 27.

According to District Magistrate Abhishek Prakash, the drive will be carried out at 160 vaccination centres.

He said that the state authorities have set a target of administering 86,400 doses in Lucknow on Monday, but the district administration and the health department has made preparations to inoculate over a lakh people.

District immunisation officer Dr M.K. Singh, said, "As many as 160 vaccination sites have been made in which 461 booths will carry out the drive. Of the total sites, 104 will be special camps that are also known as Workplace Covid Vaccination Centres. These camps will be organised at religious places, government offices, residential apartments, schools and colleges."

"Walk-in registration facility will be available to those who are unable to book a slot in advance. These people will have to produce a government recognised photo ID proof at the centre. While 40 per cent of the doses will be reserved for the walk-in category, 60 per cent shots will be given to those who book slots online," he added.

The special vaccination camps organised at religious places of various faiths in the city have given a major boost to the vaccination drive against Covid-19.

They account for nearly 10 per cent of the total 28.2 lakh Covid doses administered in Lucknow so far.

There are 19 such special camps in the state capital, with the highest, 77,156 shots, administered at the booths set up at Eidgah Aishbagh, followed by Naka Gurdwara (48,520), Chhota Imambara (30,020), Sant Nirankari Bhawan (17,183), Sadar Gurdwara (15,745) and Radha Swami Satsang (6,299). The remaining 13 places are also administering doses.

Eidgah Imam Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali said, "We took the initiative and got ourselves inoculated first, which helped in diluting hesitancy among people, particularly minorities. Vaccination drive has not stopped here even for a single day since the rollout."