VARANASI: The preparations for cold chain storage facility to accommodate 25,000 units of
Covid-19 vaccine are being made at the
community health centre (
CHC)
Chowkaghat building where three
Ice Lined Refrigerators (ILRs) arrived on Monday. The facility will be ready in next three days.
Also, in view of the possibility of
Covid-19 vaccine coming in first fortnight of January in the state, the process for registration of
frontline corona warriors, including government and private medical practitioners and paramedics, has also been completed in the district. A list of 12,700 frontline warriors has been finalised for the first phase of
vaccination and 19 centres in city and eight centres in rural areas have been identified for administration of vaccine.
Talking to TOI on Monday, chief medical officer Dr VB Singh said, “We received three ILRs today and their installation will be done at CHC Chowkaghat in next three days. After it, our cold chain facility for storage of 25,000 units of Covid-19 vaccine will be ready. The ILRs have compartment temperature between 2 degree Celsius and 8 degree Celsius for storing vaccine vials.”
The finalization of vaccine storage facility was intensified a day after the additional chief secretary and nodal officer for Varanasi Dr Devesh Chaturvedi took stock of the preparations for the first phase of Covid-19 vaccination drive in the district on Sunday.
In the presence of district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, the CMO informed Chaturvedi that registration for the initial phase of Covid-19 vaccination has started by focusing on frontline warriors, including government doctors and paramedical staff as well as private medical practitioners. So far, 12,700 Covid warriors have been registered for which 25,000 units of vaccine will be required in the first phase as each of them would be administered two units of vaccines in a gap of 28 days, he said, mentioning that in view of the same requirement the storage facility with cold chain is being developed in the district.
Singh said that 19 centres in the city including government and private hospitals and one centre at each of eight block headquarters in rural area have been identified. The vaccine will be administered to the registered frontline warriors at the centres, he said mentioning that basic exercises like choosing vaccination staff and their training have been completed.
Each person will be monitored for 30 minutes after vaccination at these centres, he said, adding that the arrangements for scientific disposal of biomedical waste has also been made at each centre. Record of vaccinated persons will be uploaded on the prescribed portal for their follow-up.
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 tally of the district crossed the 21,000 mark on Sunday. However, the officials said that among the samples tested in a day the rate of positive cases has become 1%, while Covid mortality rate has also reduced in the district. Random sampling is being conducted frequently at places of public gathering and contact tracing of each positive cases is being done, the CMO added.