Delhi govt trains 3,800 people for Phase 1 of Covid vaccination drive

The vaccinators and the support staff will be taught about the different kinds of vaccines, how to administer them, how to ensure that the cold chain is maintained, what kind of adverse reactions might happen and what to do to combat these reactions, a senior official from the Delhi government said.

The Delhi government is training around 3,800 people — including 600 doctors from the private sector — for the Covid-19 vaccination drive.

Ambulance drivers lined up to drop recovered patients to their homes at Sardar Patel Covid Care Center in New Delhi, India. (Ajay Aggarwal /HT PHOTO)

The vaccinators and the support staff will be taught about the different kinds of vaccines, how to administer them, how to ensure that the cold chain is maintained, what kind of adverse reactions might happen and what to do to combat these reactions, a senior official from the Delhi government said.

The trainees will also be familiarised with the various modules of the Centre’s digital network CoWIN that will be used to register and track beneficiaries, schedule immunisation drives, and track all resources needed.

“The state level officers and officials from World Health Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme were trained first by the centre. They are now helping in training the vaccinators. So far, we have received applications of 600 doctors from the private sector. The training of nearly 3,800 vaccinators and support staff will be completed in another two to three days,” said Dr Suneela Garg, professor of community medicine at Maulana Azad Medical College and advisor to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

A senior government official said around 200 teams will be formed to administer the vaccines to 5.1 million identified people in the first phase. Each vaccination booth – situated at a government or private hospital, dispensary, polyclinics, or mohalla clinic – will be staffed by five persons, only one of who needs to be a doctor or nurse, who will actually administer the vaccine.

“Each vaccination team will comprise of five people, who will have the capacity to vaccinate around 100 people a day. That is the initial target. We are expecting to complete the vaccination process in over two months,” said a senior government official.

At the booth, one person will check whether the beneficiary has been registered, a second person will verify the documents, the third will administer the shot, and another will monitor the person for 30 minutes after that to ensure that there is no adverse reaction.

“In case we are directed to expedite the process and complete the first phase in a month, then we will have to do it by increasing the number of teams to about 340. It will be a challenging task, because a large number of health workers are already involved in Covid-19 testing and staff from there cannot be diverted. But, a month’s target is not impossible if the resources are available on time,” said the official.

A revenue official said even additional district magistrates are undergoing training for the vaccination process.

“Like health workers are being taught the technicalities, revenue officials are also being taught the basics of vaccination. Apart from that, we are also being trained on the facts about the vaccine, so we can run IEC campaigns and ensure strict compliance to the vaccination strategy,” a senior revenue official said.

“For example, we have to convey to people that even after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, they must continue taking all precautions like use of face cover or masks, hand sanitisation and maintaining social distance,”said the official.

The official also said family members of health care provider and family workers will not be included in the first priority phase, unless deemed extremely necessary by the district administration.