Mohali gears up for Covid-19 vaccine rollout

Deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan says vaccine expected to reach district by December end or early January 2021

The district task force for vaccine introduction has deliberated upon the administration’s storage and distribution plan as Mohali prepares for a smooth rollout of the Covid-19 remedy.

In the first round, 9,515 registered frontline workers from government and private institutions will be immunised. (Representational image)

Deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan said on Friday that the vaccine is expected to be delivered to the district by December end or early in January 2021. Keeping this in view, training of the staff involved in the administration of the vaccine has been planned and vaccination sites have been earmarked.

In the first round, 9,515 registered frontline workers from government and private institutions will be immunised. Primarily, the vaccine would be administered in health institutions since every beneficiary has to be kept under observation for about half an hour to monitor adverse event following immunization (AEFI), if any. If need be, schools, community halls, gram panchayat/ municipality buildings would be put to use with dedicated vaccination teams, the DC informed.

The vaccine administration site or the session site will have three well-ventilated dedicated rooms/areas — waiting room for beneficiary line-up, vaccination room where the shots would be given and observation room for monitoring of AEFI.

The IEC (information, education and communication) logistics have also been worked out since primary vaccine administration may or may not require follow up shots or the booster dose per beneficiary. “We are designing a fool-proof methodology so that each beneficiary gets requisite, timely, proper dosage of the vaccine as per the directions of health authorities,” said Dayalan.