COVID-19: Over 12000 Gujarat health workers get shots on day 3

On the third day ofvaccination drive in Gujarat, around 12,300 health workerswere administered coronavirus vaccine across the state onThursday, officials said.

These health workers, part of the priority group, werevaccinated at 161 session sites across the state, they said.

The pan-India COVID-19 vaccination programme againstCOVID-19 kicked off on January 16.

However, there was no inoculation in Gujarat onJanuary 17 and 18, while January 19 was the second day of thedrive in the state.

As per the schedule, the drive would take place onTuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in Gujarat so thatregular vaccination programmes, such as anti-polio drive, donot get disturbed, said State Vaccination Officer Dr NayanJani.

''Around 12,300 health workers were covered under thisdrive (On Thursday). While around 11,000 were vaccinated onJanuary 19, 12,300 were covered on January 16, which was thefirst day.

''No one has developed any serious complications yet(after inoculation),'' said Jani He said the number of session sites may be increasedin the future to cover more beneficiaries.

For the first phase, the Gujarat Health Department hasidentified 4.31 lakh healthcare workers such as doctors andnurses for inoculation, said Jani.

After healthcare professionals, 6.93 lakh frontlineworkers such as police personnel, 1.05 crore citizens abovethe age of 50 and 2.75 lakh people under 50 but withcomorbidities will be covered under the drive, Jani added.

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