As supplies increase, BBMP to speed up vaccination in vulnerable areas of Bengaluru

Palike Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta recently wrote to the development commissioner and the state government asking for additional vaccines

Having fallen short of doses for months, the BBMP has now received a larger supply, which it plans to utilise through more vaccination sites in pockets reporting lower coverage.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta recently wrote to the development commissioner and the state government asking for additional vaccines.

“We had requested that Bengaluru should receive at least 75,000 doses every day and since the last few days, the supply has improved significantly,” Gupta said.

While the BBMP was receiving 35,000 to 40,000 daily doses on average, supplies have now touched 65,000-70,000 a day for the last five days.

Armed with increased supplies, the civic body is now looking to restart mobile vaccination camps and setting up mini vaccination camps closer to uncovered and vulnerable areas.

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“Earlier, due to vaccine shortage, we had stopped mobile vaccination camps and restricted vaccination to one site in the ward. Now, with the improved supply we will be able to set up vaccination sites near slum areas, garment factories and many other uncovered areas,” said Randeep D, BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Health).

Aiming to improve vaccination in hesitant areas, the BBMP is planning to set up camps closer to the residents instead of a single centre.

“We will set up camps closer to the areas where we have identified less coverage owing to vaccine hesitancy. We’ll also create awareness and try bringing in more people,” Randeep added.

Moving forward, the civic body would consider the demand and absorption capacity of the sites while distributing doses among the wards.

“We will move from static to dynamic distribution (system). Based on the demand, previous consumption and other factors, we’ll decide on vaccines to be allotted to each site,” Randeep said.

Data on vaccine

The civic body is also considering releasing the data on vaccine allotment to each vaccination site to the public. “If we release the data on allotment of vaccines to each site the previous day, people will have a better idea before they visit the site,” a senior BBMP official said.

The civic body is aiming to vaccinate 70% of the city’s population by the year-end.