Ahmedabad, Jan 21 (PTI) On the third day of vaccination drive in Gujarat, around 12,300 health workers were administered coronavirus vaccine across the state on Thursday, officials said.

These health workers, part of the priority group, were vaccinated at 161 session sites across the state, they said.

The pan-India COVID-19 vaccination programme against COVID-19 kicked off on January 16.

However, there was no inoculation in Gujarat on January 17 and 18, while January 19 was the second day of the drive in the state.

As per the schedule, the drive would take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in Gujarat so that regular vaccination programmes, such as anti-polio drive, do not get disturbed, said State Vaccination Officer Dr Nayan Jani.

"Around 12,300 health workers were covered under this drive (On Thursday). While around 11,000 were vaccinated on January 19, 12,300 were covered on January 16, which was the first day.

"No one has developed any serious complications yet (after inoculation)," said Jani

He said the number of session sites may be increased in the future to cover more beneficiaries.

For the first phase, the Gujarat Health Department has identified 4.31 lakh healthcare workers such as doctors and nurses for inoculation, said Jani.

After healthcare professionals, 6.93 lakh frontline workers such as police personnel, 1.05 crore citizens above the age of 50 and 2.75 lakh people under 50 but with comorbidities will be covered under the drive, Jani added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)