E-Paper
Local authorities prep up for vaccination launch, but await more info
The health ministry announced on Saturday announced that the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination programme will start in the country on January 16 and accordingly, local authorities have started preparation for the vaccination drive which would possibly be one of the biggest such drives in the country
The health ministry announced on Saturday announced that the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination programme will start in the country on January 16 and accordingly, local authorities have started preparation for the vaccination drive which would possibly be one of the biggest such drives in the country. However, with almost no information at hand about which vaccine would be administered and how many doses the city would get, local authorities are left to prepare without a plan.
The state has shortlisted 511 vaccination centres based on the number of healthcare workers who have registered themselves on the CoWin app. Pune district has a total of 55 vaccination centres of which 16 each are for the two municipal corporations while remaining centres are for the rural areas and the councils. As of now, about 90 thousand healthcare workers including nurses, doctors, midwives and the clerical staff at hospitals have registered themselves from Pune district. While the dry run at the four centres went smoothly, uncertainty about the future plan could lead to a possible chaos.
A senior official from the PMC’s health department, who is aware of the developments, said, “The uncertainty could lead to a major chaos. The dry run for the vaccination was mostly about the technical part which was the software registration and verification. However, even till date we do not know which vaccine would be administered, we do not know how many do we have to vaccinate every day and for how many days would this first phase go on. We do not even know how many doses we would get. The first 16 centres are being kept ready for the inauguration on January 16. Earlier, we were asked to prepare five sites and now we have to prepare 16.”
Dr Ashish Bharti, chief health officer from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), said, “We have to send a list of 16 vaccination centres where the first phase vaccination would take place. These would include mostly government facilities, but also major private hospitals like Deenanath Mangeshkar, Ruby Hall Clinic, Noble hospital and Bharatiya hospital who have expressed willingness to take part in the drive. We will finalise the names and send it.”
Dr.Archana Patil, director of health services, said, “We have been asked to provide a lot of information which is ongoing. We are yet to know which vaccine would be administered, how many doses would we get and if it is from the Serum institute, then we would get the dose from Pune itself. As of now, we have identified 511 centres across the state for the launch on January 16.”
PMC has estimated that it would need a total of 88 lakh doses required for the total population of 44 lakh citizens in the city which includes healthcare workers (46,000), frontline workers (approximately 1.5 lakh), high-risk population (>50 years of age) and <50yrs with associated comorbid conditions (approximately 12 lakh).
