Sanitation worker likely to be first vaccine recipient in Odisha
BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Wednesday asked the district administrations to pick ‘the first beneficiary’ in a way it sends out a positive social message.
“On the day of launch, the first person to be vaccinated at a facility should preferably be a safai karamchari (who are among the nine categories of healthcare workers registered for the first phase inoculation),” additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra told the district collectors during a meeting conducted through video-conference.
In places where people are excited to get the vaccine – to be launched on Saturday – someone like a safai karmachari (sanitation worker) or a Class IV employee will be selected. Similarly, in case there is any apprehension among healthcare workers, the head of the institution or someone very senior will take the vaccine and lead by example, an official source said. The government has asked the district collectors to engage local celebrities, leaders, influencers, religious leaders and other prominent personalities to speak about the safety and efficacy and high immunogenicity of both the vaccines and address rumour mongering effectively. On the day of the vaccine launch, chief minister Naveen Patnaik will interact with beneficiaries at a particular site in each district. Mohapatra said the government is targeting to complete the first dose of vaccination of 1.92 lakh healthcare workers within a week using the available vials while the number will increase since the supply will be a continuous process. The state has 3.38 lakh registered healthcare workers.
Cuttack gets lion’s share of vials
The government has distributed the available stock of vaccine to the districts in proportion to the number of healthcare workers registered. The highest 19,100 doses have been sent to Cuttack where 29,624 healthcare workers are registered while Deogarh, with 2519 beneficiaries has been sent the lowest 1650 doses, in the first phase.
The district administrations were told to keep in mind that though the shelf life of both the vaccines is six months, each vial must be used within four hours of its opening.
The government has asked the district administrations not to disturb routine immunisation in any way during vaccination for Covid-19. Health workers involved in routine immunization activities won’t be called for their own vaccination or for vaccine duty on the day they are elsewhere engaged. The government has also asked the district health administrations to complete beneficiary allocation and session site creation by Thursday afternoon.
The government hopes the data for the second phase beneficiaries like police, defence personnel and revenue officials would be ready by January 25 after which their vaccination would start.
TOI
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