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Vaccination drive picks up pace in Punjab, over 2.5 lakh inoculated in 4 days
Of 10.63 lakh people vaccinated in Punjab till now, only 89 developed ‘minor’ AEFI, says the health department
Of the 10 lakh beneficiaries administered Covid vaccines in Punjab since the commencement of the nationwide vaccination drive, including those with co-morbidities, only 89 experienced minor adversities after inoculation, data released by the state health department shows.
The health department also claimed that no ‘severe’ case of adverse effects following immunization (AEFI) was reported in Punjab till Sunday.
“Since January 16, nearly 10.63 lakh beneficiaries, including healthcare workers, frontline warriors and people above the age of 45, have been administered vaccine in the state. Of them, nearly 1.3 lakh beneficiaries were co-morbid with diabetes, hypertension and even serious diseases like cancer. Also, 1,21,826 beneficiaries have already taken their second dose of the vaccine cycle. However, only 89 of them experienced minor side effects and complained of fever, body ache, dizziness, headache while no one required hospitalisation due to severe adversities post-vaccination,” said Punjab nodal officer for Covid-19 Dr Rajesh Bhaskar.
“The number of people developing fever post-vaccination could be more, but since it is a natural process after immunisation, not many people complain about it to the state health department. Also, the state health department kept a vigil on those 89 people who developed minor AEFI and all of them recovered in a day or two. They are now healthy and satisfied with the vaccination,” he added.
Health experts believe that 89 is a ‘minuscule’ and ‘negligible’ number as the AEFI percentage in the state is as low as 0.0089%.
“On an average, 30% of those being vaccinated are developing fever, but it is a natural process. Some beneficiaries, especially above the age of 60, experienced shivers, while some complaint of loose stools, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. This can be due to age-related ailments but no major cases, where vaccinated person required hospitalisation, have been reported,” said an Amritsar-based health expert, who didn’t wish to be named.
The state nodal officer said at the time when many countries are investigating reports of blood clots among people who received the AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid vaccine, no such complications have been reported in Punjab.
After the government’s move to include people above 45 years in the vaccination process from April 1, the drive rapidly picked pace in Punjab with 2.5 lakh beneficiaries being inoculated in the past four days.
“Since a large population of people became eligible to take vaccine after April 1, more people are coming forward to take the shots. Also, since less incidents of AEFI are being reported, people are now shunning hesitancy and being less apprehensive about the side effects. We are expecting more people to join the drive in coming days,” said Dr Bhaskar.
14% beds reserved for Covid patients occupied
With the active cases increasing rapidly in Punjab amid the second wave of the pandemic, 14% of government and private hospital beds reserved for Covid patients are occupied, data available with the state health department shows.
As per health experts, more severe cases with late detection of virus are being reported in the state as a result of which, hospitalisation of patients has also increased in the past few days.
The state has reserved 8,400 level-2 beds in government and private hospitals for treatment of moderately ill Covid patients and 1,600 level-3 beds, including the intensive care unit (ICU) beds with or without ventilators, for critical patients.
Nearly 1,092 (13%) level-2 beds and 272 (17%) level-3 beds were occupied till Sunday.
