With COVID-19 vaccines being extended to all above the age of 45 starting on Thursday, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has given the nod to start vaccination in mini clinics established across the State.
T.S. Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health (DPH), said mini clinics were being added to the vaccination programme. “There are 1,950 mini clinics in the State. There may be challenges in a few remote places, but approval has been given to all,” he said.
He added that the vaccines would be moved from the district and regional vaccine stores to the mini clinics. “We have stock for a week. We have 8 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin, and the next batch is expected soon,” he said.
In a circular issued to all Deputy Directors of Health Services, the DPH said there were 529 government COVID-19 vaccination centres and 761 private vaccination centres.
Based on the recommendation of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19, the Centre decided to expand the prioritised age group to include all persons aged 45 years and above for COVID-19 vaccination from April 1.
The need for a co-morbidity certificate for people aged 45 to 59 years was not required from now. The Co-WIN software was also being suitably modified to do away with the need for the condition of co-morbidities at the time of online registration and on-site registration or for uploading the co-morbidity certificate at the time of vaccination. The registration on Co-WIN for this change would begin on April 1, the circular said.
All DDHS were instructed to give special focus on optimal utilisation of the capacity of COVID-19 vaccine centres while minimising the wastage of vaccines, he said in the circular.
