GUWAHATI: Almost 10 months after Covid-19 forced people to leave in an atmosphere of fear and anxiety, Assam, like the rest of the country, will on Saturday begin a campaign to eliminate the pandemic.
At 10.30 am, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a nationwide vaccination drive against coronavirus. In Assam, vaccination will take place at 65 centres.
Twelve eminent doctors of the state from both government and private sectors will receive the first shots of Covid-19 vaccine at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on Saturday morning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a live witness through a video link.
Over the next eight weeks, 8,651 trained vaccinators will administer shots to all the 1.9 lakh healthcare workers in the state from both government and private sectors in the first phase of vaccination.
On Day 1, the plan is to vaccinate 6,500 registered beneficiaries — 100 in each centre.
Each of them will have to come back to the vaccinations sites after 28 days of the first shot to take the second shot to complete the vaccination process, but will have to wait for 14 days more for the immunity in their bodies to kick in. The immunity does not develop if one skips the second dose within the stipulated time.
“This is PM Modi’s biggest gift to the country’s healthcare workers,” Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Based on the guidance of National Expert Group On Vaccine Administration for Covid (NEGVAC), Covid-19 vaccine will be introduced in a phased manner with first phase focusing on healthcare workers — comprising doctors, nurses, paramedic personnel, lab technicians, ambulance drivers — and all those who need to get physically involved while dealing with Covid-19 patients.
“The eagerness to get vaccinated is purely voluntary, but going by the challenges, healthcare workers have to face it, as is imperative for each of these workers to get the vaccination,” Sarma said, adding that pregnant women healthcare workers will not be administered with the vaccine.
The vaccination will be done four days a week — Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. “The remaining days have been kept reserved for other ongoing vaccination drives,” Sarma said.
He added, “Anyone receiving Covaxin must provide a written consent and those getting Covishield must provide oral consent.”
In the second phase, another one lakh frontline workers, who are personnel from state and Central Police department, armed forces, home guard, prison staff, disaster management volunteers and civil defense organization, municipal workers and revenue officials engaged in Covid-19 containment, surveillance and associated activities, will be vaccinated in the same 65 session sites.
“All beneficiaries have registered through CoWIN app and each of them has been given the time slot for vaccination at their session sites,” Sarma said.
The third phase of the vaccination will cover the “prioritised age group”, which involves the population above 50 years and also persons below 50 years but with co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, lung diseases, etc.