Chandigarh, April 2: Vaccination drive against COVID-19 is being carried out across the state in full swing for which Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab Government has set up 1965 Government and 296 Private Vaccination Centres. These centres have the capacity to give 2,75,675 jabs in a day.
Disclosing this here on Friday, the Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that with an aim to restrict the increasing graph of corona virus cases, the health department is now aiming to get the maximum number of people vaccinated for this virus following which a special awareness drive is being conducted in the rural areas of State. He said that after removing the condition of co-morbidities for above 45 years persons, the overwhelming response has been received from all districts for the vaccination.
An intensified awareness campaign was launched by the Health & Family Welfare department to aware people about the precautions and guidelines issued to control the spread of COVID-19 he said adding that however, the campaign is now moving a step ahead to motivate people to get vaccinated to create immunity against the virus.
Lauding concerted efforts being made by the team of the health department, Ludhiana, Mr. Sidhu said that our teams have been visiting Health & Wellness Centres at villages where general public and staff members are being sensitized regarding COVID vaccination and myths relating to the vaccine were busted and their queries were answered to speed up the drive.
Referring to misconceptions about vaccine, Sidhu said that it is utterly a false claim and people should understand that vaccination is made available to public after various tests and trials and it is fully safe for people. That’s why, this awareness drive especifically targeted the rural areas as they are the one who are not adequately aware about this largest vaccination drive and they are being provided the facility by the government to get vaccinated in the centers near to them and they should get advantage of this facility and get vaccinated.
The Health Minister informed that vaccination was carried out in government health facilities on all 7 days of the week and it is completely free of cost at these institutions. For private hospitals government has fixed a maximum fee of Rs.250 for each dose of vaccine.
Mr. Sidhu said that teams comprising of Block Extension Educators and Mass media officers are continuously providing the message in a clear manner due to which people are now willing to get themselves vaccinated.
