Covid-19 vaccine would be provided to healthcare workers and Covid warriors free of cost in the State, informed Health & Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das on Thursday. “The State Government has decided to vaccinate doctors, healthcare workers, elderly persons, Covid warriors including employees of municipalities, health, electricity, water supply departments free of cost in the first phase,” he said. Das hoped that the vaccination drive would commence in the State in January.
Health and Family Welfare Director Bijay Kumar Panigrahi informed that about 3.2 lakh people would be vaccinated in the first phase in the State after launch of the vaccine in the country.As many as 8,276 healthcare workers would be deployed at 29,276 vaccination centres for this purpose. A total of 1,796 ice lined refrigerators (ILRs) and 1771 deep freezers have been readied for the vaccination drive, he said.
Panigrahi further informed that five persons, a vaccinator, a vaccine authority, a verifier and two supervisors, would be stationed at each vaccination centre. According to the guidelines issued by the Central Government, the latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies elections would be used to identify the population aged 50 years or more for vaccination purpose. Around 100 to 200 people would be vaccinated during each session per day and would then be monitored for 30 minutes pursuant to getting the shots to observe any adverse effects.
A digitised platform for vaccine delivery called ‘Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network’ or ‘Co-WIN’ would be used to track enlisted beneficiaries for vaccination on a real-time basis. Besides, 12 photo-identity documents, including Voter ID, Aadhaar card, driving licence, passport and pension document would be required for self-registration on the digital platform.
Only pre-registered beneficiaries would be vaccinated at the vaccination sites in accordance with the prioritisation charted out by the Union Health Ministry. The guidelines state that there would be no provision for on-the-spot registration.