Ghaziabad to shift crowded Covid jab centres from June 1
As cases decline in Ghaziabad, the district administration plans to reorganise the vaccination drive of Covid-19 from June 1.
The district currently has 48 vaccination centres and the reorganisation plan will see the crowded ones being shifted to bigger centres.
“We are in process of analysing crowds at the centres. Five were recently shifted to nearby facilities to maintain social distancing,” said Dr NK Gupta, Ghaziabad chief medical officer. “The new premises are mostly within a kilometre of the old one.”
The five centres that were shifted are the one at MMG Hospital (to Ghanta Ghar Ramlila Ground), two urban primary health centres (UPHC) in Vijay Nagar (to the local Ramlila Ground and Crossings Republik), the health centre at Mirzapur (to a private school nearby), the health centre in Kairati Nagar (to nearby government inter college) and the health centre at Makanpur in Indirapuram (to a composite government school at Makanpur).
Dr VB Jindal, former president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad), said that the exercise should have been taken up when cases had started to spike in the middle of April. “At overcrowded centrers, there is always a risk of an infected person mixing along with others. However, the relocations, although late, is much needed,” he said Dr Jindal.
A health official said they also expected a scaling down of centres while increasing the daily target. “From June 1, the 48 centres providing vaccination to the 18-45 age group will be down to 35. The daily target will be increased from 600 to 6000 at some centres. Likewise, the 42 centres for the 45+ age group will be increased to 52 with no daily target,” said the officer who wished not to be identified.
According to official data, the sample positivity rate - number of positive samples out of 100 tested - in Ghaziabad on May 27 was 9.09%, which is the lowest in the month down from the peak of 19.3% on May 6.
Covid-free wards
The district on Friday said that the Nagar Panchyats of Patla, Niwari and Fareed Nagar, and 10 of the 15 residential wards of Dasna were Covid-free. “Likewise, 10 of 34 wards in Khoda Nagar Palika, two of 26 wards in Modinagar Nagar Palika, 46 of 55 from Loni Nagar Palika and 10 of 25 wards of Muradnagar Nagar Palika were Covid-free. This was a result of our ‘voluntary community containment program’,” said district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey.