21 pvt hospitals added as Covid-19 vaccination sites

At least 21 big private hospitals of the city will be designated as session sites for Covid-19 vaccination, according to district health department officials.

At least 21 big private hospitals of the city will be designated as session sites for Covid-19 vaccination, according to district health department officials.

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These sites will be in addition to 58 sites already identified by the department for inoculation of the vaccine. Officials said that the number of session sites will increase further as spacious locations at block level are being identified.

“More than 32,000 health care workers are to be vaccinated in the first phase. In all likelihood, they will be vaccinated at these hospitals,” said Dr MP Singh, district immunisation officer. “The other 58 sites are mostly schools, community centres and community health centres. More such sites are being traced where crowd can be easily managed, while maintaining social distancing,” said Singh, adding that vaccination is likely to place three days in a week without affecting the routine immunisation programmes already running.

According to him, private hospitals have also been designated as Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) centres.

An Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) is an untoward medical occurrence following immunisation, which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO). There are three categories of adverse events. Minor AEFI includes common reactions like pain and swelling at the injection site, fever and irritability. Second is severe AEFI which can be disabling and rarely life threatening but do not lead to long term problems, while the serious AEFI can require hospitalisation and may cause death. Serious cases are extremely rare since vaccines are introduced only after meeting stringent safety guidelines during vaccine trials.

As per Covid-19 vaccine guidelines, beneficiaries are to observed at the session site for 30 minutes post-vaccination to detect, manage and treat immediate adverse reactions, if any. For this an AEFI management centre has to be identified in each block, which will be linked with the session site. At the session site, the vaccine beneficiaries will be counselled about these events.

“These private hospitals will serve as AEFI centres. Also, they will be linked with other session sites in their nearby areas to tackle cases of adverse events,” said Singh, who was part of the meeting with AEFI committee members on Friday. The district level AEFI committee was revamped on December 7, increasing its strength from 12 members to 16 members. Expert in neurology, cardiology and pulmonology have been included in the committee.