India Covid: Gujarat cities to prioritise vaccine for 'super-spreaders'

Ahmedabad - Those who do not opt for the jab have to provide a negative Covid test every week.

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PTI
PTI

Published: Fri 18 Jun 2021, 1:58 PM

Last updated: Fri 18 Jun 2021, 1:59 PM

The Banaskantha district administration in Gujarat placed ‘super-spreaders’ in the ‘priority’ Covid vaccination category, along wth those over 45 because of their constant interactions with the public at large.

Other cities in the state, including Ahmedabad and Surendranagar, have also followed Banaskantha by prioritising people from various trades and ensuring they get vaccinated. They include vegetable vendors, hotel and restaurant staff, autorickshaw and taxi drivers, paan shop and tea stall employees, salon workers, private security guards, tailors, electricians, plumbers and shopping mall staff.


“We initially conducted meetings with associations of merchants, pharmacists, groceries, block health officers and local municipalities,” Ajay Dahiya, district development officer, said.

“The associations prepared a list of members above 45 and special sessions were created for them. We are adopting a similar strategy in phase two with the 18-45 years’ group.”


Those ‘super-spreaders’ who did not opt for vaccination had to provide a negative Covid test every week. About 40,000 ‘super-spreaders’ have been vaccinated across the district.

On Wednesday, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation followed suit, checking high-contact groups and getting them vaccinated.

“We have designated seven vaccination sites, one each at the seven zones, where we are facilitating vaccination of these groups with on-the-spot registration,” said Bhavin Solanki, the medical officer.

“The aim is to increase our coverage as much as possible and we expect that 75 per cent of this population will be covered with at least one vaccine dose, if not both, within the next two months.”

About 100,000 people in the super-spreader category in the 18-plus age group can now get vaccinated at walk-in centres in Ahmedabad.


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