People with disabilities now to get vaccinated

Ahmedabad: The authorities in India have started a special drive-through vaccination camp for people with disabilities with an aim to provide vaccination to the vulnerable residents of society.

The organizers of the weekend campaign in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat, targets to provide vaccination to 500 people with disabilities who find it very difficult to book slots and reach out to the vaccination centers.

People who were able to make their way through lined in front of the center in vehicles, wheelchairs, and also on customized mopeds to get their vaccine against Covid-19 for free.

Mahendra Chudasma, a 45-year-old visually impaired man exclaimed, “The vaccination process is now more convenient.”

“It’s a very nice feeling.”

In spite of being the largest manufacturer of Covid-19 vaccines, India is facing a difficult time in providing vaccination to its 1.3 billion population mainly because of the logistical issue of reaching out to the people residing in remote areas and also because of the uncertainty about the dose.

The disabled people often find it very difficult to reach out to the vaccination sites either due to shortage of proper transport facility or due to unavailability of ramps at the centers for easy access, Bhushan Punani, general secretary of the Blind People’s Association in Ahmedabad, one among the organizers of the campaign stated.

He further went on to say that many people have faced problems in using a government-mandated smartphone app that is mandatory to get oneself registered for the dose.

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has announced that each and every eligible and willing Indian resident shall receive their respective dose by the end of the year. As per the health data, only 240 million people among the 950 million adults have received the first dose of the vaccine.

In the month of April and May, India witnessed the worst of days with the massive increase in the number of positive cases and now it is deemed that such a phrase has come to an end.

On Sunday, the authorities informed 80,834 fresh active cases within 24 hours, the lowest recorded number within a span of a couple of months, as per the health ministry data.