Healthcare workers in Phase-I
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Jan 2: As the dry run for the COVID-19 vaccine was carried out today, Government has identified Sub Centres, Primary Health Centres (PHC), Sub District Hospitals (SDH) and District Hospitals (DH) across J&K to function as vaccination sites post the rollout of the vaccine in the country.
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The vaccinators who will be administering the vaccine have also been identified and trained thoroughly across J&K.
The dry run that was carried out was aimed at training the identified manpower regarding how to set up vaccination sites, waiting room and vaccination room and how to carry out other related activities during the process of vaccination.
While giving details about the preparedness of the vaccination which is expected to start this month, Financial Commissioner, Health & Medical Education Atal Dulloo told Excelsior that the people who will be dealing with the vaccination process have been identified and trained as well.
Regarding the cold chains for the storage of the vaccine, he said that as of now, the requirements are up to the mark and the vaccination will hopefully start this month.
“The logistics for the cold chain is mostly available with us because that will depend on how early the vaccine is made available to us, on what speed and quantity the vaccine is made available to us-on these bases, we have enough of cold storage equipment with us,” he said.
He said that after the vaccination, the patients will be observed for half an hour in the observations rooms-for the handling of which the people have been trained and equipped-and only after that, if there are no complications, the patient will be discharged.
Pertinent to mention here, the Government has also formed Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) committee which has been tasked to deal with the adverse effects of the vaccine, if any.
Giving details about the phases of vaccination that will be carried in J&K, Dulloo said that the vaccination will be carried out in 4 major phases and it will be started with the vaccination of healthcare workers in phase 1.
“We are expecting it (vaccination) to start in January and in phase-1, healthcare workers which are around 1.6 lakh in number will be vaccinated, followed by frontline workers which include police personnel, paramilitary personnel and the municipality workers and some from the Revenue Department who were associated with the COVID-19 activities,” he said.
In Phase 3, the population above 50 will be vaccinated and those less than 50 years of age will be vaccinated if they are living with comorbid conditions and in the last phase, phase 4, the rest of the population will be vaccinated.
Notably, ‘Covishield’, the vaccine candidate from Pune-based Serum Institute of India was on Friday approved by a Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
Meanwhile, a mock drill for Covid-19 vaccination was also conducted at Ladakh Heart Foundation Leh.
The mock drill was conducted in the presence of Commissioner Secretary Rigzin Samphel and Deputy Commissioner Leh Sachin Kumar Vaishya. Medical Superintendent SNM Hospital Leh Dr. Norzin Angmo, Chief Medical Officer Leh Dr. Motup Dorjey, District Immunization Officer Dr. Tashi Namgyal, Dy. Chief Medical Officer Leh Dr. Manzoor Ahmed, concerned doctors, and medical staff were also present.
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