Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government has increased the number of COVID-19 vaccination sites from the present 161 to 510, as directed by the Centre, a senior official said on Monday, adding about 80,000 health workers have received shots since the January 16 launch.
In coming days, this number of the sites could rise further as civic bodies have been given a green signal by the state government to add more sites as per their convenience, said Gujarat Immunisation Officer Dr Nayan Jani.
"We launched the vaccination drive on January 16 with 161 sites in Gujarat with a target of inoculating 100 beneficiaries per day at each such site. Now, as advised by the Centre, the number has risen to 510 sites.
"This number may increase further as local civic bodies were given freedom to add more sites as per their convenience," said Jani.
In Gujarat, the inoculation is conducted on four days a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday to ensure that regular vaccination programmes, such as polio drive, do not get disturbed, said Jani.
"Since its launch on January 16, around 80,000 health workers, who are part of priority group, were vaccinated against coronavirus in Gujarat," he added.
For the first phase of vaccination, the Gujarat Health department has identified 4.31 lakh healthcare workers such as doctors and nurses, 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 with comorbidities will be covered under the drive," Jani added.