Dakshina Kannada initiates Covid-19 vaccination for bed-ridden at doorstep

In a bid to provide Covid-19 vaccines at the doorstep of bed-ridden people, Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Dr Rajendra K V flagged off a special vehicle at the campus of University College in Mangaluru on Saturday.

Considering the plight of the endosulfan victims and other aged and seriously ill who are bed-ridden in Dakshina Kannada district, the district administration in association with Indian Red Cross Society of Dakshina Kannada unit, Rotary Mangaluru and Bank of Baroda took the initiative. A team of health workers will visit households to administer vaccination, said the Deputy Commissioner.

The KSRTC employees, private, contract and stage carriage bus employees, auto drivers have been categorised under priority sector and are being administered with vaccines in Mangaluru through the Red Cross Society. Already, professionals who wish to fly back to the foreign countries for work have been administered with vaccines on a priority basis by the organising camps. Now, vaccination for the NRIs have been decentralised and they will be administered with vaccines at PHCs, added the DC.

The Dakshina Kannada district is likely to get more vaccines after Monday and the administration will plan to intensify the vaccination drive accordingly.

Stating that the positivity rate in Dakshina Kannada is fluctuating, the DC said that it was 18 per cent two weeks ago and has come down to 8.5 per cent. The positivity rate was high on Saturday as a record number of 11,000 samples were tested.

He urged people to effectively adhere to lockdown norms and covid-appropriate behaviour.

The differently abled who require vaccination at their door steps and bed-ridden have been asked to register their names on the district's official website—dk.nic.in. After registration, depending on the number of registrations in a particular area, the vehicle will reach the spot for administering vaccines. Already, 108 people have registered for the same, said Indian Red Cross Society of Dakshina Kannada unit President Shantharam Shetty. It will be a continuous process, he added.

Saralappa, an auto driver who had arrived in University College premises for the vaccine, said “I did not know how to register for the vaccine and this vaccination camp for auto drivers and bus drivers have benefited people like me. None in the family have been vaccinated so far.”

Private Bus Owners Association president Dilraj Alva said that the association had already collected details of the staff of the private buses who require vaccines. Accordingly, 400 have registered so far.