Drive-in vaccination centres to come up in Lucknow, Kanpur & 12 other UP districts

After the successful run of the drive-in vaccination centre in Noida, the Uttar Pradesh administration is now trying to set up such sites across 14 more districts. With facilities for free administration of immunity booster jabs to the beneficiaries, these centres shall come up in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi and Prayagraj, amongst other cities in the territory. Initiating the process, the Department of Family Welfare has asked for proposals from the Chief Medical Officers of respective cities, in this regard.

Spaces with adequate parking facilities to be used at vax sites

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The authorities will scrutinise the proposals first to make sure that all necessary provisions are present. It has been mandated that the plans will be furthered only if there is sufficient space available for parking of the vehicles. This is required because the inoculated individuals will have to wait in their cars after getting the doses for half an hour. As per the immunisation protocol, the beneficiaries need to be monitored for 30 minutes to arrest the possibilities of any successive reactions.

Director General (Family Welfare) Rakesh Dubey, said, "Currently, we are preparing to start this facility in Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Bareilly, Meerut, Jhansi, Agra, Mathura, Saharanpur, Ayodhya and Ghaziabad. If everything goes well, after the first week of June, the facility of getting vaccinated by sitting in a car can begin in these cities." It is to be noted that proposals are only requested from developed cities, where adequate parking lots will be available.

Drive-through centres to help reduce time and contact among people

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With the execution of extended drive-in vaccination centres, it is expected that the scheme will help in saving time besides reducing the contact among people. While long lines of beneficiaries at the centres will be prevented, the initiative shall also aid in priority vaccination of vulnerable individuals. Further, senior citizens will be able to procure their life-saving jabs from the comfort of their cars now.

State Immunization Officer Ajay Ghai stated that the authorities are working on newer projects to enhance the scope of vaccination. Informing about the ample availability of stocks, he said that the drives for 18-44 shall be started in all districts of the state from June 1.

- With inputs from IANS