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12 senior doctors to be the first to get Covid-19 vaccine in Assam
In Assam, around 9 million or nearly 3% of the total population would be covered in the first phase. Around 190,000 doctors, nurses, hospital staff, lab technicians and ambulance drivers will get vaccinated in the first stage followed by nearly 100,000 police and paramilitary personnel.
Twelve senior doctors of the state will be the first in Assam to get the initial doses of the Covid-19 vaccine that would begin on Saturday morning as part of the nationwide vaccination drive.
“We have invited 12 people to get the first doses of the vaccine. The first among them is Dr Umesh Chandra Sarma, retired vice-chancellor, Srimanta Sankardeva University of Health Sciences,” state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told journalists on Friday.
He will be followed by Dr Dhrubajyoti Borah, former president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha--the state’s biggest literary body and former principal of Barpeta Medical College and Hospital. The third would be Dr Ilias Ali, Padmashri recipient and former head of the department of surgery at Guwahati Medical College Hospital.
“The first doses of Covid-19 vaccines would be given to frontline health warriors who have to deal with patients physically and have the highest risk of contracting the disease,” said Sarma.
“The next category would be police, paramilitary personnel etc. This will be followed by people above 50 years of age and then by people with co-morbid conditions,” he added.
In Assam, around 9 million or nearly 3% of the total population would be covered in the first phase. Around 190,000 doctors, nurses, hospital staff, lab technicians and ambulance drivers will get vaccinated in the first stage followed by nearly 100,000 police and paramilitary personnel.
A total of 8651 vaccinators have been trained from among auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) staff in the state and they would be supervised by 1300 doctors. Vaccination would be carried out in 65 different sites in 33 districts across the state from Saturday.
On the first day, 100 people would be vaccinated at each of the 65 vaccination sites taking the total to 6500 people. Vaccines would be administered based on consent and would be voluntary.
Three places in Assam, Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Nagaon civil hospital and Tezpur Medical College and Hospital, would have two-way links with the official ceremony in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part.
As of now Assam has 221,500 doses of vaccines-201,500 of them Covishield and 20,000 Covaxin-of the total 380,000 doses needed to vaccinate 190,000 health workers in the first stage.
Assam has at present 1656 active Covid-19 cases with a recovery rate of 98.10% and death rate at 0.49%. The number of new cases detected daily has remained below 50 on an average since December 31.
