Bhubaneswar becomes first city in India to fully vaccinate its residents

Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, has become the first city in India to achieve 100% Covid vaccination of its people. Furthermore, it has also administered the first dose of the vaccine to around one lakh migrant workers in the capital.

Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog, took to his social media account to congratulate Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Bhubaneswar for achieving the feat.

Bhubaneswar first city to achieve 100% COVID vaccination, Puri first city to supply 24×7 drinking water. Congrats @Naveen_Odisha & people of Odisha for these achievements and for also sponsoring our national men & women hockey teams since 2018, who have now reached the semis!

— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) August 2, 2021

Vaccination of population

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had set a target to administer 18 lakh doses in Bhubaneswar by the end of July. A total of 9,07,194 vaccine doses have been administered in the capital of Odisha. This includes full vaccinated healthcare workers, frontline workers, citizens between the age of 18 to 44 years, citizens above the age of 45.

As of August 2, 2021, 18,77,178 vaccination (1 and 2) doses have been administered in Bhubaneswar.

How did they achieve this feat?

Several strategies like identification of priority population, increase in vaccination centres, and creating awareness helped the administration to achieve 100% vaccination in the city.

Identification of population: Ansuman Rath, Zonal Deputy Commissioner (South East), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation told PBNS that the process to achieve the feat started back on January 18, with the vaccination of health care workers in the capital, followed by frontline workers, people above the age of 60 years and people between the age of 18 to 44. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation identified the population who needed to be vaccinated on a priority basis and specific targets were set in each category.

Further, they also vaccinated the target people like cab and auto drivers, and delivery boys in the city.

Setting up of vaccination centres:

A total of 55 immunization centres were set up across the city to fasten the vaccination drive. This included 30 primary health centres and community centres. 10 drive-in facilities were also set up to encourage people to get themselves vaccinated. These drive-in facilities were opened at stadiums, parking lots in closed malls, etc.

Further, 15 mobile centres were set up for people who could not book themselves a slot due to lack of technological know-how, or lack of identity cards, including the elderly and persons with disabilities.

The administration also set up special sessions on CoWin platform through a caretaker. These caretakers booked vaccination slots on Cowin using their ID for people from slum areas, those without homes, beggars, persons with a mental disorder, etc.

Vaccine hesitancy: To eliminate vaccine hesitancy among the people, the administration set up special vaccine centres in the community centres in slum areas to encourage people to get themselves vaccinated. At these centres, people in the nearby areas came to get themselves vaccinated.

Registration of migrant workers: Furthermore, the State had also made the registration of migrant workers compulsory upon their return to the State. This helped the Anganwadi workers to connect with the migrant workers, and helped in vaccinating the migrant workers easily.

Roadmap ahead

The Zonal Deputy Commissioner informed that with the unlocking and ease in lockdown restrictions, the priority is to vaccinate the floating or migrating population coming to the city for reasons like studies or work.

Further, they have also prioritized the vaccination of pregnant ladies, for whom two days have been fixed at the vaccination centre, to protect them from the crowd at the vaccination centre.

The Zonal Deputy Commissioner also thanked the citizens of Bhubaneswar for their complete participation and support towards making the vaccination drive a success. He informed that although the drive-in facility has been closed with the ease of restriction, people can still walk in to get themselves vaccinated at any vaccination centre. The administration also plans on vaccinating the migrants with the second dose within their eligibility time.