Another round of Covid-19 vaccinations, this time for high-risk citizens (including those above 60 years of age, and those with co-morbidities aged between 45 and 59 years), was today launched across 48 government and 44 private health facilities in Telangana.
In Hyderabad alone the drive was launched at 24 centres.
Speaking on the occasion, after getting vaccinated at a government hospital in Huzurabad, Health Minister Etala Rajender said that the inoculation drive had been launched without any glitches. He encouraged the people of the state to also receive their shots without any fear of side effects.
The minister said that the TRS government had taken steps to provide the vaccine at various locations so that people across the state could easily access it.
(The vaccine will be administered free of cost at the government health centres. But those opting to get inoculated at private health facilities will have to pay for the same. The cost of one dose is Rs 150, and private hospitals are permitted to charge a maximum of Rs 100 as service charge.)
Addressing the drive, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also urged the people not to demonstrate any "vaccine-hesitancy", and urged those eligible to receive the injection, and to register for the drive at the earliest. Further, she appealed to them to strictly adhere to the Covid-19 safety norms to prevent the spread of the pandemic, as the vaccination process was still in progress.
The Governor then directed the Raj Bhavan officials to "guide and motivate" all those Raj Bhavan employees belonging to the two identified demographics to get vaccinated at the earliest, and said, "The Raj Bhavan should be a role model to the people of the state, and our eligible employees and officials should get immunised against Covid-19 at the earliest."
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar visited the King Koti District Hospital along with a team of officials to inspect the ongoing vaccination program, and said that the immunisation process had gotten off to a smooth start.
During his inspection, he took stock of the arrangements made for the vaccination roll-out, and spoke to the doctors present about the preparations for the same. He also interacted with the patients at the hospital who, in turn, thanked him for the arrangements made by the government for the drive.
Kumar, like the Health Minister and the Governor, advised the people to register themselves through the COWIN app and get vaccinated without any fear or misgivings, and said, "The vaccine is safe. It has been tested by scientists and doctors to ascertain this. So people should get immunised without any worry about its side effects."
MIM leader and MP Asaduddin Owaisi was also one of the many leaders asking the people of the state to get immunised.
Speaking to the media at the MIM office in Hyderabad, he lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for having taken the vaccine. (The PM was vaccinated at the Delhi AIIMS today. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu also took the injection at a health facility in Chennai.)
Owaisi then appealed to the Modi government to take steps to make the vaccine available to all the poor people of the country at an affordable price, and to treat journalists as frontline Covid-19 workers and arrange an inoculation drive for them.
The health workers in Telangana were also recently immunised against Covid-19 in
two rounds. The state's health department will soon be organising a
vaccination drive for the disabled as well.