As the entire country is gearing up for the historic immunisation drive against Covid-19, the Telangana government too is making preparations to carry out the state-wide vaccination program.
All the necessary arrangements have already been been made for the immunisation drive which will commence from January 16.
Health Minister Etala Rajender is will be one of the first people to take the jab in the state capital.
He had earlier promised the people of the state that he would be
the first to get inoculated in a bid to allay the people's fears and doubts regarding the vaccine, its efficacy and possible side effects.
The minister disclosed that
3.6 lakh doses of the vaccine had arrived in the city ahead of the launch of the state-wide immunisation drive, and said that the vaccinations would be administered from 139 centres across the state, and said that the state was fully prepared to carry out the drive in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Centre and the ICMR.
"We have made all the preparations needed for the vaccination drive, in compliance with the guidelines issued by the Centre and the ICMR. For now, we have stored the vaccines at the stipulated temperature. First, the front line warriors - the health staff and workers - will get vaccinated as they are most vulnerable to contracting the disease. The health department officials have already made elaborate arrangements in this regard as per the directions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao," he said.
While the vaccine drive is set to be launched tomorrow, it may be marred by low turnouts as vaccine hesitancy among some people of the state and the country has emerged strongly. In a bid to address the issue, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan had also
assured the people of the state that the vaccine was completely safe during her inspection of the dry run organised at the Tilak Nagar PHC.