'Covishield' vaccine drive to be held from today

The vaccination drive against Covid-19, with the 'Covishield' vaccine, will be held in Kodagu from Saturday.

The campaign will be launched simultaneously at Kakotuparambu, Madikeri, Kushalnagar and three other centres in the district at 10.30 am.

The health workers at Urban Health Centre, Madikeri, will be administered with the vaccine in the beginning. A total of 6,344 health workers have been enrolled in the first phase of the vaccination drive.

As many as 4,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in Madikeri on Thursday evening. The remaining doses will arrive in the days to come, said Zilla Panchayat CEO Bhanwar Singh Meena.

The health department officials said all preparations have been made to administer the vaccine to the workers.

The health workers expressed their happiness on the arrival of the Covishield vaccine and on the vaccination drive.

"We were living in fear during the last 10 months. We were not able to be close to our children. We wish all success to the drive and hope everyone leads a happy and peaceful life," said Kritika, who works as a nurse.