HYDERABAD: Over three lakh healthcare workers— nearly a lakh in the government sector and double that figure in the private — may get Covid-19
vaccine in the first phase.
In the second phase, workers from various government departments, holding positions that require high level of contact with public, will get the vaccine. The Union government had recently given an indication to states to start preparations a fortnight ago so that they would be prepared whenever the vaccine gets released. The idea is to vaccinate the targeted people in a phased manner, prepare the cold chain, required consumables, manpower and material.
As part of the exercise, the state health department has begun collating data of the targeted population. “We have begun the exercise weeks ago. In the government sector, there are a lakh healthcare workers, while details of private healthcare workers are still being collected. The first round of vaccination will be for healthcare workers followed by frontline workers of different departments. The vaccine will be next made available to the vulnerable population (people with comorbidities, immunocompromised patients, elderly people above 65 years of age and children below 10 years of age),” director public health Dr G Srinivasa Rao explained. The fourth round will in fact be when the normal healthy public would be given vaccination.
An internal order issued recently by the state has detailed database creation process. “Database has to be collected from both government and private healthcare facilities. Healthcare workers under government include regular, contract and outsourced employees,” it said.