As part of an initiative to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, over 2,000 residents of PBEL City – a gated community in Hyderabad – were administered the COVID-19 vaccine in a mass vaccination drive. Situated in Narsingi, PBEL City has around 1,800 flats with about 6,000 residents. Residents, staff, security and other workers in the community were vaccinated in the 2-day drive, the organisers said.
“A total of 1,136 people were given the vaccine dose on Saturday, and another 870 people took the vaccine by Sunday noon. Not just residents but domestic workers and other staff working in the community were also given the vaccine. We are encouraging the residents to enlist domestic workers for the drive,” said Chandramohan, PBEL City resident’s association president.
For this purpose, PBEL City residents had inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Aster Prime Hospital. With this, PBEL City would possibly be the first gated community to carry out vaccination on such a large scale, Chandramohan added.
“Since the pandemic started, we had formed a COVID-19 task force team with around 50 members to handle the crisis. And as part of the crisis management, we also thought of prioritising vaccination. We have been in talks with Aster Prime Hospital for the past two months. And when the government approved vaccination by private hospitals at communities last week, we took the required permission from the District Medical Health Officer and organised the drive,” Chandramohan explained. The task force aims to complete the vaccination programme in four phases.
On May 25, the Telangana government allowed private hospitals that have been identified as private COVID-19 vaccination centres (PCVC) to also vaccinate those above 18 years of age. PCVCs have also been allowed to carry out vaccination drives at workplaces, communities, institutions, etc. PCVCs constitute private clinics, hospitals or any other health facilities that have been designated by the state government as a COVID-19 vaccination centre.