COVID-19 vaccination programme: Health workers will be randomly selected

The first consignment of Covidshield arrived at BMC’s storage facility on Wednesday. The drive kicks off on January 16. Pic/Ashish Raje

Maharashtra is all set to roll out the vaccination programme on January 16. Two of its centres (R N Cooper hospital in Vileparle and District hospital, Jalna) will have a two-way communication - live interaction - with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on D-Day, while other civic shortlisted centres will screen his speech in the vaccination area.

Officials check the vaccines stored in cold storage at the district public health strong room in Alibaug on Jan 13

At 358 vaccination centres shortlisted across the state, nearly 8 lakh front line workers have been registered for the vaccine programme. So far, 9.63 lakhs vials have been circulated across the state, of which 1,39,500 vials were supplied to Mumbai, followed by 1,13,000 vials supplied to Pune. In phase one nearly 35,000 frontline workers are expected to be vaccinated. Interestingly, on the day of vaccination, only a small number of front line health care workers, will be randomly selected and they will be informed so through the mobile application CoWin.

On Wednesday, night, Raigad district received its vaccine lot for nearly 9,500, said highly placed officials attached to the Public Health Department.

A doctor attached to R N Cooper hospital said, "We are excited with the fact that there will be a two-way communication with the Prime Minister. However, at this moment, we have no clue about the actual number of shortlisted staffers, who will take the vaccination. We were just informed about this latest development and there are series of meetings going on, to ensure that everything goes smoothly."

Another senior doctor attached to a BMC centre shortlisted for the vaccination programme said, "All the civic shortlisted centres will have a screen and a one-way communication set up (they can only hear the PM talk) in the vaccine area. Instead of two shifts only one shift will operate on D-Day." The doctor further added, "We had a discussion with senior civic officials few days ago, wherein it was stated that health care workers' (civic, government and private) names will be shortlisted with the Executive Health Official, Parel, who will submit the final list for uploading in the CoWin application. We have learnt that only four to five frontline staffers (doctors, nurses, ward boys and other paramedical staff) from each hospital will be shortlisted, instead of having the entire hospital staff vaccinated at one go. Moreover, we are yet to be told, about the next dates of follow up vaccinations, information of which will be circulated post the January 16 nationwide vaccine programme."

Speaking about consent, a doctor at a COVID Care Centre said, "We have been told by Additional Municipal Commissioner (Public Health) Suresh Kakani that the entire programme is voluntary and that even if a staffer decides at the last moment not to take the vaccine, he / she has every right to do so." A doctor attached to Rajawadi hospital in Ghatkopar (E ) too said, "We have not been told anything specific about consent. In case a front line staffer whose name is shortlisted gets the message about vaccination through the CoWin application, his details will be taken at counter no 1, where all verification will be done. Only after the details are uploaded (which means the staff is giving consent) for vaccination will he/she be sent to the next counter."

Dr Sudhakar More, District Health Officer, Raigad district said, "As of now we have shortlisted- Civil hospital, Alibaug; Sub-Divisional hospital Pen and Karjat; MGM Kamothe and Yerala Medical college, both under Panvel Municipal Corporation for the vaccination programme for January 16. So far, we have 850 registered health care workers who have volunteered for the vaccination programme. But on day one (January 16), only 100 each will be vaccinated in the shortlisted hospitals/medical college."

Asked about the remaining registered staff, he said, "We are awaiting guidelines for the same and will do the needful as per the directives from superiors." Talking about any untoward reaction due to the vaccine, he said, "We have made all required arrangements and hence have shortlisted the hospital/medical colleges for vaccination programme, so that in case of any such situation our experts including anaesthetists there, will provide the required medical care."

Nidhi Choudhary, Raigad district collector said, "We have got the consent of health care workers working at various healthcare centres coming under state government, civic corporation and even from private set ups. Those who are registered and receive a mobile message, will come to the designated centre where they will be given the vaccine."

When asked about the preparedness for an allergic reaction, the collector said, "All the participants for vaccine programme will be monitored for half an hour and we have been provided with all the equipment required to tackle any allergic symptoms. Also, we have been provided Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) guidelines by both the central and state government. Also, any allergic incident will be reported to both the central and state government through the portal, and such cases will be closely monitored."

In case of a side effect observed after few days of vaccination, the collector explained, "These are health care workers, and they will be attended at the centre where they were vaccinated." When asked about health care workers who are registered but could be left out on day one of the vaccination programme, the collector said, "We will await the state government directives, and will act as per the instruction. We are fully prepared for January 16." "As per the directives of the state government, we have submitted the list of our front line staffers to the local municipal corporation," said a source attached to Apollo hospital in CBD Belapur.

1,39,500
No. of vaccine vials supplied to Mumbai