COVID-19: 3.6 lakh health workers in Andhra to get first vaccine shots

VIJAYAWADA: With the Centre announcing that the Covid-19 vaccination drive will begin from January 16, all arrangements to carry out the large-scale programme in the state are in place. However, the exact date of when the vaccine will reach the state is yet to be announced.

Around 3.6 lakh health workers are likely to be vaccinated in phase 1, and only health facilities shall be used as session sites. Private health facilities with more than 100 health staff will also be session sites. 
A special task force, headed by Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, has been appointed to conduct and monitor the inoculation drive. Also, teams headed by collectors will monitor the same at district-level.  
Control rooms have been established in each district which will work round-the-clock to guide the district and mandal-level teams, and send feedback to the state-level panel. Five officials--a Mahila police, a digital assistant/volunteer, an ANM and an ASHA worker--will be deployed at each vaccination centre.

The state-task force, in its feedback after the dry runs, has mentioned that the allotment of beneficiaries to a session site, now being done by DIOs, needs to be done by field-level officers. It also stated that the Co-WIN portal and application should be fast and robust; the portal needs an account for number of doses and vials allocated, used and available at various levels. This apart, it also stated that the integration of Co-WIN with SAFE-VAC is not smooth, and that technical glitches like pin code non-availability, session timing, Aadhaar authentication have to be rectified.