Hyderabad, March 2 Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy on Tuesday received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine here.
The Minister was inoculated at the government-run Gandhi Hospital in his Parliamentary constituency of Secunderabad.
Vaccination of people who are 60 years or above, and for those with comorbidities in the 45-59 years age group continued across Telangana for the second consecutive day.
Reddy, who was accompanied by state Health Minister Eatala Rajender, appealed to people who come under the two categories to come forward to take the vaccine without any hesitancy.
He urged them not to believe misinformation being spread by some people about the vaccine.
Reddy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders showed the way by taking the vaccine to make the country free from the pandemic.
The state health department on the first day administered the vaccine to 4,558 people from the two categories at 93 government and private health facilities.
Out of 2,647 people who were targeted to be vaccinated at 48 government health facilities, 2,005 turned up. At 45 private hospitals, 2,553 beneficiaries took the shot while the target was 4,112.
According to the department, no Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) cases were reported.
The department plans to increase the number of vaccination centres to over 1,000 in one week.
Director of Public Health G. Srinivasa Rao said people will have more option of choosing a hospital of their convenience.
People can choose to register for vaccination either online, or on the spot registration at vaccination centres.
He said along vaccination continued for first and second doses of healthcare workers and frontline workers.
A total of 249 Health Care Workers (HCWs) took first dose and 70 the second dose on Monday.
Similarly 51 Frontline Workers (FLWs) were given first dose and 16 FLWs the second dose.
The state has so far vaccinated 3,00,399 people for first dose and 1,47,716 beneficiaries for second dose.
If the number of elderly and persons with comorbidities included, the state has so far vaccinated 4,48,115 people.
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( With inputs from IANS )
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