India’s vaccination drive against the novel coronavirus is the biggest in the World. The vaccination program began with PM Narendra Modi’s address to 3006 vaccination sites across the country on January 16, 2021.
It has been nearly 6 months since the administration of vaccines against COVID-19 began. And one city in India has achieved its target i.e. it has vaccinated its 100% population. The city is none other than Bhubaneswar.
Odisha’s capital city, Bhubaneswar has become the first city in India to achieve 100 percent vaccination coverage against Covid-19. In addition to this, the city has also administered the first dose of Covid vaccines to about one lakh migrant workers.
Talking to a leading daily, Anshuman Rath, South-east Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, said, “100 percent of the population in Bhubaneswar have been vaccinated against Covid-19. Along with this, one lakh migrant workers in the city have been administered the first jab.”
Further in his interview, Anshuman said, “The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation set a goal of immunizing cent percent of its population by July 31. During this time, we have administered the second jab to a total of 9,07,000 people above 18 years of age, which includes around 31,000 health workers, 33,000 frontline workers, 5,17,000 people between 18-45, and 3,20,000 above 45. As per reports, around 18,35,000 doses of Covid vaccine have been given till July 30.”
How Bhubaneshwar Achieved This Feat?
To boost the inoculation drive, 55 vaccination centers were set up across Bhubaneswar, 30 out of which were built inside primary health centers and community centers. In addition to this, at least 10 drive-through vaccination facilities were set up in the city. For its elderly and differently-abled population, the government built 15 immunization centers inside schools.
Apart from establishing various vaccination centers, one factor that helped Bhubaneshwar achieve complete vaccination for the entire population is cooperation from its population. Anshuman Rath has appreciated the local people for the same. In the interview, he said, “On behalf of the Municipal Corporation, I thank the people of Bhubaneswar for making the Covid vaccination campaign a huge success. With the hard work of the civic body officials and the cooperation of the local people, Bhubaneswar has become the first city in the country to immunize 100 percent of its population.”
Apart from this, the state of Odisha has other achievements to its name as well. Recently, Puri, a city in Odisha has become the first Indian city to achieve a 24-hour drink from a tap facility. The tap offers safe drinking water and water from it can be used for cooking and drinking without requiring any further filtration.
India’s Vaccination Drive
Given India has a population of 130 crore people, the government planned it accordingly. It started the drive-by vaccinating three crores of its frontline workers. In the first phase, two indigenous vaccines, Covaxin and Covishield were administered to priority groups. The priority groups included in the first phase were health workers, safai karmacharis, the Army, and disaster management, volunteers.
The next phase or the second phase rolled out all residents over the age of 60, residents between the ages of 45 and 60, and any healthcare worker who did not receive it during the first phase. The third phase included a group of residents belonging to the age group 18-45 years.