GUWAHATI: The vaccination for frontline workers started in Assam on Wednesday with nearly 500 CRPF personnel in Guwahati and Silchar receiving the jabs on the first day.
On Wednesday, 382 and 110 CRPF personnel were vaccinated in Silchar and Khanapara in Guwahati respectively. Health officials said the vaccine has been widely accepted by the armed forces personnel with 98% of the intended beneficiaries turning up for the second jab across the state.
“There is hardly any hesitancy among healthcare workers whom we expected to get inoculated with the second dose. 98% of them getting the shots is a huge success. We are constantly in touch with the rest. No one has put down our request,” director of health services (family welfare), Munindra Nath Ngatey, told TOI.
On Tuesday, 1,499 got the second dose, which was higher than 1,365 who were vaccinated during the first phase. Ngatey, however, said those left out from the list of people who got their second dose on Wednesday will be vaccinated within 35 days. The second dose must be administered between the 28th and the 35th day since a person gets their first shot in order to get full immunity.
“There has been absolutely no problem with the second dose. We heard that in some states, few healthcare workers felt a while getting the shit. That, however, did not happen in our case,” said Dr Manoj Choudhury, executive director of Assam NHM, who has been vaccinated with the second dose.
A total of 1,30,894 healthcare workers have been inoculated to date in Assam, including the 5,641 who have already got their second shots. Around 1,211 beneficiaries have received the first dose of the Covid vaccine and 212 beneficiaries have received the second dose till 6 pm since on Wednesday morning.