On Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 51 lakh people in Delhi will be administered the Covid-19 vaccine in the first phase Top private hospitals in Delhi with more than 100 healthcare workers will be used to carry out the vaccination programme for Covid-19. The government has finalised the list of 603 cold chain points, including mohalla clinics and government hospitals, that will play an important role in vaccinating the targeted population.
According to the World Health Organisation, the purpose of the vaccine cold chain is to maintain product quality from the time of manufacture until the point of administration by ensuring that vaccines are stored and transported within recommended temperature ranges.
“The immunisation programme in private hospitals will be carried out in coordination with government officials. Under the supervision of government officials, the vaccination programme in hospitals with more than 100 healthcare workers will be carried out. There will be three rooms at each vaccination booth — one each for waiting, vaccination and observation,” said Dr Suneela Garg, public health expert and advisor to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). She has been appointed in charge of the state Covid-19 task force for the Delhi vaccination programme.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 51 lakh people in Delhi will be administered the Covid-19 vaccine in the first phase. He said 1.2 crore doses are needed to cover priority categories comprising healthcare workers, police, civil defence volunteers, those aged above 50 and people aged below 50 with associated comorbidities such as diabetes, heart ailments, among others.
The state had earlier prepared a list of 3,500 healthcare workers who had to be trained for the immunisation programme; around 300 more staff have been enrolled. Among them, 600 workers are from the private sector, 200 are from hospitals under railways, cantonment, and there are 700 medical officers for monitoring these cold chain points.
The training programme will be completed by Tuesday.
“During the training programme, the healthcare workers will be informed about the safety of the vaccine, use of digital application Co-WIN, monitoring and vaccine logistics management,” added Dr Garg.
On Friday, Delhi recorded 758 Covid-19 cases — the lowest in over four months — and 30 new fatalities even as the positivity rate dipped to 0.88 per cent. The infection tally in the city mounted to over 6,21,439 and death toll rose to 10,414.