The government has identified 53,000 street vendors it wants to vaccinate in the next few days, expanding the BBMP’s efforts to vaccinate all frontline workers.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inaugurated the drive to vaccinate street vendors, metro workers and slum dwellers at the National College grounds. He also opened the camp to inoculate slum dwellers.
“There is a high probability that the virus would spread to the slums,” the Chief Minister said, stressing the need to cover the slums in the drive for frontline workers.
Vaccination for metro workers has begun, with 7,500 of them lined up to receive the jab in the next two days at the MG Road, National College, Vijayanagar and
Baiyappanahalli metro stations. Each station is equipped to vaccinate 900 workers a day, the Chief Minister said.
The government is using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds it received from companies like Zomato, Amazon India and Paytm. The vaccination camps play a vital role in fighting the pandemic, Yediyurappa said.
“The government has received nearly Rs 175 crore for the health sector. This has galvanized our battle against the pandemic,” the Chief Minister said, acknowledging the contributions from the companies.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which has plans to vaccinate frontline workers and priority groups from 39 sectors, has already vaccinated over 2,000 disabled people, 3,000 construction workers and 1,000 labourers.
A senior Palike official said vaccination teams are working meticulously on identifying beneficiaries in all the sectors and planning the camps accordingly to make sure there is no shortage of vaccines.
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