India News | Gujarat COVID-19 Vaccine Drive to Start from 25,000 Booths

Ahmedabad, Jan 11 (PTI) The COVID-19 vaccination programme in Gujarat will start for priority groups from 25,000 booths on January 16 when the nationwide drive will kick off, said the state government on Monday.

Gujarat will receive first consignment of coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday at 10.45 am at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport here, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel tweeted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be connected to 287 such booths through video conferencing on January 16 and he will interact with doctors and recipients at two locations in Ahmedabad and Rajkot, he said.

After Modi’s request that public representatives should not take part in the first phase of the drive, the Gujarat government has decided that the chief minister, other ministers, BJP MPs and MLAs will not be inoculated along with the priority groups.

“All preparations regarding the vaccination drive are over. We will receive vaccines tomorrow (Tuesday),” said Patel, who is also the health minister, after the meeting where Modi interacted with all chief ministers and important officials of the country on the vaccination drive.

“The vaccine programme will start from January 16 as announced by the prime minister and it will be administered to the priority groups at 25,000 booths,” Patel said.

Patel said he and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will be present at one of the venues to boost the morale of people receiving the vaccine.

Asked whether the chief minister and other members of his cabinet will take vaccine shots, Patel said the BJP has decided that since the programme is for priority groups as of now, they will not take doses in the first phase.

“The chief minister, other ministers, MPs and MLAs of the BJP and its office-bearers will not take vaccine as they are for health professionals, frontline workers and senior citizens,” Patel said.

The Prime Minister, in the meeting, asked public representatives not to take vaccine shots in the first phase.

Patel said that first healthcare workers followed by frontline workers like policemen, revenue department staff, safai karmachris (sanitation workers) will be inoculated.

After that citizens over the age of 50 and then those below 50 with serious illnesses will be administered the vaccine, the deputy chief minister said.

Around 11 lakh people engaged in COVID-19 duties, including over four lakh healthcare staff and six lakh frontline personnel like police and sanitation workers, will get the first benefit of the vaccine.

As per a house-to-house survey for the priority groups, more than 1.05 crore people over the age of 50 and 2.75 lakh people under 50 with comorbidities have been identified for vaccination.

(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)