Bengaluru sets single-day record by administering 1.68L vax jabs

Bengaluru, June 21 Bengaluru civic body the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) administered a record 1,68,958 vaccine doses in eight zones of the city on Monday, surpassing its own target of 1 lakh doses as part of the Accelerated Vaccination Campaign (AVC), officials said.

According to a statement released by the BBMP, of the 1,68,958 doses administered on Monday, 1,44,000 were Covishield shots, while 43,000 were Covaxin jabs.

BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said that the civic body had initially set a target of administering 65,000 vaccine doses, which was revised to 1 lakh shots during the Accelerated Vaccination Campaign.

"Our previous highest achievement was on June 4, when 1.17 lakh vaccine doses were administered. Administering 1.68 lakh vaccine doses on Monday is our biggest single-day achievement," the BBMP statement said quoting Gupta.

He added that the vaccination drive was conducted at various places across the eight zones of BBMP by deploying more personnel, including doctors, staff nurses, Asha workers, home guards and marshals.

The statement added that the number of session sites were increased from an average of 300 to 528 to attract more people in the city.

"These sites include 160 sites in the urban primary health care centres and general hospitals and 368 in workplaces. A total of 528 vaccinators and verifiers were assigned by BBMP besides mobilising volunteer vaccinators from various nursing colleges," the statement added.

The successful vaccination drive was the result of the concentrated efforts of eight zonal health officers (ZHOs), 28 medical health officers (MOHs), 978 Asha workers and 429 Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs), who were working in the field, the statement said.

"All our health staff, especially 978 Asha workers and 429 ANMs, launched dedicated door-to-door campaigns to raise awareness among the people, which helped us to not only achieve the target, but also create a new record," Gupta said.