Sweeper, nurses among first recipients to get Covid-19 vaccine in Andhra Pradesh

A government hospital sweeper and nurses were among the first recipients of Covid-19 vaccine in Andhra Pradesh as the programme was launched in the state on Saturday by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Sweeper B Pushpa Kumari and a senior staff nurse Naga Jyothy were administered the vaccine at the Government General Hospital in Vijayawada where Chief Minister formally launched the drive.

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A short while earlier, 40-year old staff nurse Manjula of the government hospital in Prodatturu town in Kadapa district, the native of Jagan Reddy, became the first person to get the vaccine. Local MLA Prasad Reddy launched the vaccination drive midway through Prime Minister Narendra Modis address after he flagged-off the nation-wide exercise.

Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar and other officials attended the launch at Vijayawada. According to Bhaskar, the first phase of vaccination was being carried out at 332 locations across the state.

AP got 4.7 lakh doses of CoviShield and 20,000 doses of Covaxin in the first round. At each location, a team of six staff have been deployed to vaccinate 100 beneficiaries per day. Each team is supervised by a doctor. A total of 2,324 staff would be working to vaccinate a maximum of 33,200 health care workers per day.

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The Health Commissioner said 3,87,983 healthcare workers were being administered the vaccination in the first phase. "All the healthcare workers in the state will be vaccinated in the next 15 days. They will be given the second dose after 28 days," Bhaskar added.