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UP begins groundwork for storage of Covid-19 vaccine
As efforts to develop Covid vaccine in the country enter advanced stage, health officials in many UP districts in top gear to ensure its proper storage to avoid any last-minute glitches
As people across the globe await a Covid-19 vaccine, the Uttar Pradesh government has begun the groundwork to stockpile it. The state government has announced that all citizens in the state will be administered the vaccine free of cost, but the first phase of the inoculation drive would cover the health force — doctors, nurses, paramedics and non-medics in hospitals. All divisions have prepared lists of people who will be inoculated first.
“Construction of depots is on in 22 districts,while in 27 others, repair work is in progress,” said Dr AP Chaturvedi, state immunisation officer. He said, “We do not know how many vaccine vials will be coming, but the infrastructure will be ready.”
Two vaccine depots are coming up in the capital city of Lucknow – a district depot at the urban health post in Aishbagh and a divisional/state depot near the family welfare directorate in Chowk. Both these facilities are being ramped up.
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“The focus is on the maintenance of cold chain and work in this regard is in progress at vaccine depots. The target is to have them ready by December 15,” said Dr Rakesh Dubey, director general, family welfare.
In Prayagraj, chief medical officer (CMO) Dr GS Bajpai said, “We have identified a meeting hall of Tej Bahadur Sapru (Beli) Hospital as the main vaccine storage centre in the district and its renovation process has begun to ready it as a Covid-19 vaccine storage facility.”
“The district has around 1,365 private hospitals and clinics as well as 130 government hospitals and facilities registered with the CMO office and staff of these would be vaccinated first,” he added.
District immunisation officer Dr Amit Srivastava said a sum of Rs11.20 lakh was sanctioned by the state government for getting the Covid-19 vaccine storage site ready. “Around 50 ice-lined refrigerators (ILR) capable of highly safe vaccine storage with proper power backup will be installed at this site. We hope to have the facility ready by December,” he added.
In Agra, the vaccine would be stored in the compound of the new CMO office at Halwai Ki Bagichi. “That is where other vaccines already in use are being stored but we will make separate arrangements for Covid-19 vaccine,” said district immunisation officer Dr Sanjeev Werman.
“A separate 500 square foot hall is being prepared for storing Covid vaccine. Renovation work would begin in a day or two and we will get a deep freezer from Lucknow to maintain the cold chain required,” he added.
In Meerut division, which comprises six districts of Meerut, Ghaziabad, Noida, Hapur, Bulandshahr and Baghpat, health officials have made adequate arrangements for storing Covid-19 vaccine at the storage centre of Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College.
Divisional surveillance officer Dr Ashok Taliyan said the medical college can store vaccines for three months at the required temperature.
Varanasi’s community health centre (CHC) at Chauka Ghat has been chosen for storing Covid-19 vaccine, said a senior official of health department.
The CHC was upgraded further as per the need and its storage capacity was also being increased, the official added. CMO Dr VB Singh said, “From the last week of March till date, a total of 17,653 cases have been reported in Varanasi district. Of them, 16,627 recovered, 282 died and 744 are active cases.”
(Inputs from Gaurav Saigal, K Sandeep Kumar, Hemendra Chaturvedi, S Raju and Sudhir Kumar)
