A village in Madhya Pradesh gave 1st dose of the vaccine to all eligible residents. (Representational)
The panchayat of Mehgavan Pariyat village has managed to administer the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to all its eligible residents, including two centenarians, making it the first village in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district to be completely covered in the inoculation drive, a senior official said today.
The village has 1,002 registered voters, of whom 956 have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine till Wednesday, while the remaining 46 persons are those who have recently recovered from the infection, pregnant women and those living outside the village, the official said.
The first dose has been administered to all of them, while many of them have received the second jab during the ongoing vaccination drive, he said.
What's more, 102-year-old Tijjo Bai and 100-year-old Triveni Bai took personal interest in getting vaccinated and gave a befitting reply to those spreading rumours against the vaccine, the official said.
At least six teams of the health department have been formed to carry out the drive, and one of the teams is dedicated to inoculate the elderly, physically challenged and sick persons at their homes, he added.
Expressing happiness over the feat achieved by the village, Panagar MLA Sushil Tiwari Indu gave Rs 5 lakh from his local area development fund for the development works in the village and also handed Rs 5,000 each to the two centenarians for encouraging others to get vaccinated.
Sub-divisional magistrate NS Arjaria said the vaccination drive was successful because of the active participation of villagers, who not only got themselves vaccinated, but also gave information about the sick, elderly and residents with disabilities and helped in getting them inoculated.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)