Over 1,500 healthcare workers administered COVID vaccine on first day in Himachal

Shimla, January 16

Administering anti-coronavirus vaccines to healthcare workers began in Himachal Pradesh as Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched the inoculation drive at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here on Saturday.

Hardeep Singh, a sanitation worker, was the first person in the state to be administered a shot.

After him, IGMC senior medical superintendent Janak Raj got vaccinated.

A total of 1,536 healthcare workers were vaccinated on Saturday for COVID-19 in the state, special secretary health Nipun Jindal said.

Jinda said the target was 2,499 and the percentage coverage is 61.46 per cent. Three minor adverse events following immunisation were reported in the state at three different locations in District Kangra (Dr RPGMC Tanda), Sirmour (Civil Hospital Paonta Sahib) and Solan (MMU Solan), he added.

The symptoms were dizziness, anxiety, nausea and shivering and the beneficiaries recovered after management as per protocol, he added.

The second dose of the vaccine would be administered to them after 28 days, Jindal added.

A consignment of 93,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had reached the state capital on Thursday.

The consignment of Covishield vaccine, produced by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, had been airlifted from Pune to Chandigarh, from where it was brought to Shimla by road.

Subsequently, doses were sent to other districts and areas for administering it to healthcare workers, according to officials.

On this occasion, the chief minister said that the state government had constituted State Level Steering Committee, State Task Force, District Task Force and Block Task Force to monitor effectively administration of vaccination against COVID-19.

Thakur said that a State Vaccination Store had been set up at Parimahal in Shimla while regional vaccine store had been established at Mandi and Dharamshala. District Vaccine Stores had been set up in all the 12 districts of the state, besides 386 cold chain points in the state, he added.

He said that Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) management training had been given to the session site vaccinators for establishing referral mechanism and report on CoWin App.

Thakur said that AEFI Committees at state and district level had also been notified with additional members of Pulmonologist and Medicine Specialists for casualty assessment of AEFI cases.

Later, he visited identified site under Regional Hospital in Mandi district. He expressed satisfaction over the decline of COVID-19 cases in the state and said that the Covishield vaccine would give safe and expected results in eradicating COVID-19 cases in the state.

Thakur on the first day of vaccination took stock of the established COVID vaccine centers at Vijay Senior Secondary School, Lal Bahadur Shastri Medical Collage and Hospital, Civil Hospital Sundernagar and Karsog, where 360 healthcare workers were administered vaccine. PTI