In Doaba, over 50 get vaccine at some sites, none at others due to confusion over age

Fear, apprehensions and confusion marked the first day of the Covid-19 vaccination drive launched on Saturday by the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. In Doaba region — Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala districts, 294 health workers were vaccinated against the target of around 11,00 for the first day in Doaba. At some places above 50 health workers got vaccinated on day one, but at others there were none due to confusion over age of those who will be vaccinated first.

There were a total 11 centres in Doaba and at each centre 100 persons can be vaccinated as per the guidelines.

A Civil Surgeon in Doaba region informed that on the first day the response was lukewarm because people were afraid and then the government guidelines were changing every now and then as earlier health workers above 50 years were included. Later they got guidelines that vaccination should be given to the below 50 years persons only because of which all the civil surgeons and majority of senior medical officers got out of this list because all of them are over 50.

District Immunisation Officer (DIO) Kapurthala, Dr Asha Mangat, said that on the first day there was little fear among the health workers. “We held a meeting and made them aware that those who have had vaccination have reported no complaint and they are working normally and we hope that on Monday we will get huge response,” she said.

Around 28,000 front line health workers have been identified for the vaccination during the first phase, which will continue for five days, in the Doaba region. The positive thing was that no one reported any side effects on day one after getting vaccinated in Doaba region.

Nurse Bimal, who was the first one to get vaccinated at Kapurthala Civil hospital, said that she is perfectly all right and had no feeling of fear either. Dr Shubhra Singh, who was among the first, also expressed all satisfaction and said that she had performed her duty well after getting vaccinated.

In Jalandhar, former Civil Surgeon Dr Gurinder Kaur Chawla and SMO Dr Kashmiri Lal became the first ones to receive vaccine shots as both are above 50 years of age, while in Hoshiarpur several (above 50 years) doctors, who wanted to get vaccinated, could not get the vaccine due to some guidelines they received related to it.

On the first day, 136 frontline health workers received the first dose of Covid vaccine in Jalandhar district including 41 in Civil Hospital Jalandhar , 36 in Community Health Center (CHS) Basti Guzan and 59 in Nakodar Civil Hospital.

In Kapurthala, 64 were vaccinated including 20 at Civil Hospital Kpuarthala, 19 at Phagwara civil Hospital and 18 at Bholath CHC. In Hoshiarpur, 64 were vaccinated at three centres — Mukeriana, Dasuya and Garhshankar while in Nawanshahr 37 could be vaccinated including 10 at Civil Hospital Nawanshahr and 27 at the other centre.

Civil Surgeon, Hoshiarpur, Dr Ranjit Singh Ghotra said that because it was the first day, the response was little slow but the best part was that all 64, who were vaccinated in Hoshiarpur district, had not reported any side effect. “Even some of our doctors were performing surgeries after getting vaccinated as they are perfectly well,” he added.

“I wanted to get vaccinated first but as per the guidelines I was not eligible because we got the directions to cover below 50 years of age health workers first,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, Ghanshyam Thori on Saturday reviewed the immunisation drive in Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Civil Hospital under which the vaccine will be administered to 11,800 registered frontline health workers in the first phase.