India / Raj's Bikaner to be 1st city in India to start door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination

Bikaner: Bikaner in Rajasthan will become the first town in the country to start a "door-to-door" vaccination drive in the ongoing fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a report said on Sunday. According to Live Hindustan, HT's sister publication, people above the age of 45 will be given the vaccine against Covid-19 during the drive in Bikaner.

The Rajasthan government has started a helpline and people can register themselves for the Covid-19 vaccine by providing their name and address through the WhatsApp number, Live Hindustan reported. Two ambulances and three mobile teams are have been pressed for this vaccination drive in Bikaner, it added.

The vaccine van will reach people's homes only when a minimum of 10 people register for the getting the shot against Covid-19, according to the report, so that doses are not wasted. Ten people can be administered one dose each from a vial of the Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine van will then move to another address but a medical team will stay back to keep an eye on the people who have been vaccinated, Live Hindustan said.

Bikaner, which is about 340km from the state capital of Jaipur, has 16 urban primary health centres. And, officials at these health centres will keep a tab on the team is engaged in the vaccination drive in their area.

Bikaner district magistrate Namit Mehta told reporters that experts are anticipating a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. "Our goal is to administer the vaccine to 75 per cent of people over the age of 45. Therefore, this process of giving the vaccine at home can prove to be very effective," Namit Mehta said.

According to the 2011 Census, the population of Bikaner city is more than 700,000 and so far, 369,000 people have been given the vaccine in the city.

Rajasthan recorded 368 new cases of Covid-19 and 16 more fatalities on Saturday, which have taken the infection tally to 949,376 and the death toll to 8815, according to an official report.

Of the new deaths, three were reported from Jodhpur, it said. Among the new cases, the maximum 55 were reported from Jaipur, 40 from Alwar and 28 were logged in Bikaner. Data showed that 932,161 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Rjasthan so far and the number of active cases currently stands at 8400.