Gujarat: Surat achieves 100% inoculation of first Covid vaccine dose

Gujarat's Surat city has inoculated 100 per cent of its eligible population with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, a senior civic official said on Wednesday.

The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) achieved the target of vaccinating 34.33 lakh eligible beneficiaries with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, the official said.

"Surat has administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to 100 per cent of eligible beneficiaries. To the best of our knowledge, Surat has become the first among the country's big cities, with a population of over 50 lakh, to achieve this target," deputy municipal commissioner, (Health), SMC, Ashish Naik told PTI.

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The second dose of the vaccine has been administered to around 48.4 per cent, or 16.61 lakh beneficiaries so far, it was stated. The SMC had achieved the goal by setting up vaccination camps, targeting workplaces, housing societies, and seeking active support from the medical fraternity to encourage people to get their jabs, the official said.

"We coordinated with people from the medical fraternity who responded positively. The other approach was to reach out to residential societies and hold vaccination camps there," Naik said.

The civic body also worked in coordination with textile and diamond industries to vaccinate the large workforce employed thereby setting up camps, he said. Recently, the SMC has been sending teams door to door to inform people about the nearby vaccination camps and urging them to get vaccinated, he said.

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As per the figure shared by SMC commissioner BN Pani, the Rajkot civic body has administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to 96.20 per cent (10.98 lakh) of the eligible population, followed by Ahmedabad with 93 per cent (44.89 lakh), Vadodara with 89.53 per cent (13.51 lakh) and Bhavnagar with 89.48 per cent (3.96 lakh), till Tuesday.

According to the state health department, Gujarat has so far administered over 6.25 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses.

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