KOLKATA: The women’s brigade will be firing the shots in the war against Covid-19 in the state. Vaccine officers in all booths across the state, who will be giving the jab to the beneficiaries, will be women when the rollout starts this Saturday. The state government will be roping in the services of roughly 60,000 nurses to administer the injection.
“It is going to be the women who are going to lead from the front in the vaccination rooms during the rollout. We have full confidence in our nurses and know that they will be carrying out this responsibility properly. Even though they know the nitty-gritty of administering injections, they are being trained regularly specially for the Covid-19 vaccination,” said Ajay Chakrabrty, the director of health services (DHS).
The state is already utilizing services of different categories of nurses — ANMs (auxiliary nurses and midwives), GNMs (general nurses and midwives) and public health nurses (PHNs) — for routine immunization programmes. Many of them were involved in the dry runs across the state, apart from attending regular training programmes on Covid vaccination.
“This vaccine has brought a ray of hope for all of us. I am proud of my profession and is looking forward to be a part of the process that the entire world has been looking forward to for close to a year now,” said a nurse at Medical College and Hospital. She will work as a vaccinator officer in one of the six vaccination sites in the hospital.
Around 6 lakh healthcare workers (HCWs) in the state will be inoculated in the first phase.
“We are trained and have the licence to administer vaccines. We have been doing that regularly. But yes, this time, we have to vaccinate a large number of people in a short span of time. We are being trained regularly for the mission and I am sure we can carry off the responsibility well,” said Aparna Chakbarorty, a nurse attached with a state health facility in Raghunathpur Block 1 in Purulia.
The state government had started courses for male nurses only a few years ago. Sources in the health department said the number of male nurses in the government sector is absolutely negligible at present.
“Many have lost their battle against the virus during this pandemic. Now, this vaccination comes as a major weapon to defeat the virus. Vaccination is nothing new to us. But since this vaccine, being new, the most talked about and sought-after, we will be taking all precautionary measures so that all goes well. With the support from senior officials and doctors in our hospital, we are confident of playing a crucial role in the vaccination drive,” said Santa Roy, a public health nurse at the Infectious Diseases & Beliaghata General Hospital.