Nearly 52,000 public healthcare workers in Telangana were vaccinated for Covid-19 on Tuesday, the third day of vaccination drive.

Director of Public Health and Family Welfare G. Srinivas Rao said 51,997 healthcare workers working in Central and state government institutions were vaccinated at 894 session sites across the state.

The authorities had planned to cover 73,673 beneficiaries. He said 71 per cent of the targetted beneficiaries were vaccinated.

With this the cumulative number of beneficiaries vaccinated in the state rose to 69,625, the second highest number in the country after Karnataka, where 80,686 beneficiaries have been vaccinated in three days.

According to Rao, cumulative percentage vaccinated against target is 74. No case of serious/severe AEFI (adverse effect following immunisation) were reported.

The official said 51 AEFI cases were reported. Out of them, three required hospitalisation and they are stable.

In one of the cases, a 42-year-old female healthcare worker panicked and collapsed after Covid vaccination shot in Jangaon district. The official termed it as atypical injection panic reaction. The woman quickly recovered. She is stable but kept under observation as a precautionary measure.

The Director said there will be no Covid vaccination on Wednesday and it will resume on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Centre has appreciated the state for successfully conducting vaccination programme.

On the first day on January 16, a total of 3,962 healthcare workers were vaccinated at 140 centres. Eleven of them had minor side effects and all have recovered.

On January 18, a total of 13,665 beneficiaries were covered at 335 centres. Of them 15 reported minor side effects and they have also fully recovered.

Telangana’s Health and Family Welfare Secretary Syed Ali Murtuza Rizvi congratulated Srinivas Rao, Director of Medical Education Ramesh Reddy and District Collectors for successful conduct of the vaccination.