Come Feb, over 350 health staff to get busy in administering vaccine

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 4

Come February and as many as 300 to 350 health workers per day are expected to be engaged in administering the Covid vaccine during the first phase of the vaccination drive.

As many as 12,500 health workers have registered for the Covid vaccine in Jalandhar. A hectic exercise is underway to complete the remaining registrations across the district. As many as 150 centres have been set up in Jalandhar district, where the vaccination shall be administered. A storage capacity of more than 12 lakh doses is currently available in Jalandhar.

Nearly 50 teams have been set up across the district to make the Covid vaccination drive a smooth affair. In the city alone, 23 teams shall be operational. While a total of 12,500 health workers have been registered so far, experts say the total health workers exceed this number – Jalandhar being the biggest healthcare hub in Asia.

Taking on Covid

• Teams set up 50
• No. of vaccination centres in the district 150
• Cold stores at Civil Hospital 3
• Vaccine storage capacity 12 lakh
• Health workers registered for vaccine in Jalandhar 12,500

The Health Department said they were still in the process of registering health workers, the registrations of some of whom were still pending. The district has a capacity to store over 12 lakh vaccines.

Notably, there are quite a few health workers across the medical spectrum, who claim they haven’t received any intimation about the registrations. Dr Nirdosh Goyal, a privately practicing psychiatrist and former in charge of the de-addiction centre at Kapurthala, said: “I haven’t received a request for sharing my details so far. My details haven’t been sought.”

Pooja Smara, a staff nurse at the trauma centre of the Jalandhar Civil Hospital, said: “My details for registrations have not been sought. But whenever these will be sought, I’m willing to be vaccinated.”

District Immunisation Officer, Jalandhar, Dr Rakesh Chopra said: “We have a list of over 50 private hospitals in Jalandhar, all of which have been asked to send in the details of their health staff. While many have already written back and registered their staff, others are yet to do so. The process is as yet ongoing. It will be completed soon. The three cold stores at the Jalandhar Civil Hospital as well as all CHCs and sub-divisional hospitals shall be used to store the Covid vaccination. It is not yet known which one shall be administered in Jalandhar, but we are expecting the process to begin tentatively by February first week. The next dose will be administered after 14 to 28 days depending on the vaccine.”

While a dry run has been held at Kapurthala, Dr Chopra said the time of the dry run in Jalandhar is not yet known. Dr TP Singh Modal Officer, Covid, Jalandhar, said: “All details of the health staff have been sent by their respective in charge. Their registration is complete. The vaccine is awaited and everyone is looking forward to the process whenever it begins.”

Dry run held in Kapurthala

An inoculation dry run for the Covid-19 vaccine was held in Kapurthala district on Monday in anticipation of the first phase of the vaccination drive, which is to be held in the state shortly. As many as 3,581 health workers have been registered for the first phase of the Covid vaccination programme in Kapurthala. A total of 26 cold chain points have been set up across Kapurthala to store the vaccine. A storage capacity of

6, 94,000 vaccines is available in Kapurthala currently. The vaccination will be stored at temperatures ranging between 2°C and 8°C. As many as 45 ice lined refrigerators (ILR) shall also be storing vaccines. A three-room set up at the Civil Hospital, Kapurthala, for the dry run on Monday comprised a waiting area, a vaccination room and an observation room. TNS