Apollo Hospitals completes one lakh Covid jabs

Apollo Hospitals on Thursday said it has completed vaccinating more than one lakh people against Covid-19 since the Centre started the vaccination programme.

Covid-19 vaccines are being administered at more than 60 Apollo vaccination centres across the country to those eligible over the age of 60 and those over 45 years of age with co-morbidities.

Sangita Reddy, joint MD, Apollo Hospitals Group, said, “The Covid-19 vaccination programme is critical for bringing the pandemic to an end. We are proud to have achieved an important milestone today of administering the vaccine to over one lakh people that include our vulnerable senior citizens.”

The vaccination programme comes at a crucial time when many states are reporting a rise in cases after a period of lull. Ensuring that everyone is able to get easily vaccinated as the programme expands to other age groups is of critical importance in the battle against Covid-19, she said.

“At Apollo Hospitals, we are fully geared up to administer up to one million Covid-19 vaccines a day to support the government in achieving its target of administering 500 million vaccines by July 2021,” Reddy said.

The vaccination programme across the centres follows government protocols with identity checks before administration of the shots, validation of data in the Co-WIN app, observation for 30 minutes after vaccination, and AEFI (adverse effects following immunisation) management, she said.

There is a proper maintenance of the cold chain for vaccine storage, and biomedical waste management. The vaccination process follows infection control practices, including screening of all beneficiaries for fever, physical distancing, hand hygiene, universal masking, and safe injection practices, she said.