PUNJAB GEARS UP FOR CORONA VACCINATION ON 16 JANUARY

The Punjab government is fully geared up for vaccination of healthcare workers at 110 sites on 16 January. A total of 20,450 vials was received on Tuesday; each vial has 10 doses of vaccines which is to be given to the beneficiary in two doses 28 days apart.

Disclosing this, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that after a long wait, the first batch of corona vaccine namely Covishield was received by the EPI officer of Health & Family Welfare Department, Punjab from Chandigarh Airport. He said that this Covishield vaccine was developed by Oxford University with AstraZeneca and now it is being manufactured in India by Serum Institute. Data of Phase III trials is available and it is allowed in emergency authorisation use in the UK.

The minister said that 5 vaccination sites per district have been selected for the launch.

Giving details of ‘Cold Chain’ preparations made for vaccine, the minister said that currently, the vaccine has been stored at State Vaccine Store, Sector-24 Chandigarh and it would be made available at Regional, District and Block vaccine stores as per SOPs set by the Central government.

He further said that every vaccination session will be managed by a 5-membered team with defined responsibilities as first Vaccination Officer at the entrance to ensure only eligible vaccinators enter the site, second vaccination officer for verification of beneficiaries on CoWIN, third Vaccinator Officer for giving a vaccine as intramuscular, fourth Vaccination Officer deputed at the observation room to monitor any AEFI (Adverse Event Following Immunisation) and fifth Vaccination Officer would mobilise and assist in crowd control. In addition, team supervisors and AEFI management centre with a nodal officer are also deputed for smooth run of a vaccination programme.