The first dose of COVID-19 vaccine after its formal rollout was expected to be administered to the healthcare workers (HCWs), including doctors, nursing and paramedical staff and other staff members in the sector, in about three days.
The vaccine rollout was awaited as all arrangements for the vaccination of those in Priority 1 were in place in the district.
In Mysuru district, around 33,000 HCWs had been registered for getting the vaccine. Among them, 18,000 belong to private hospitals.
The healthcare workers are defined as healthcare service providers and other workers in healthcare settings, including the ICDS workers such as anganwadi assistants, both in government and private sectors.
The number of registrations for receiving the vaccine may go by about 2,000 with the inclusion of those handling biomedical waste as beneficiaries.
Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri, after inspecting the vaccine dry run at Apollo BGS Hospitals and inaugurating the vaccination centre here on Friday, said 26 private hospitals had been identified for vaccination and they would function as the vaccination centres. This is in addition to the vaccination centres to be set up in government hospitals and primary health centres (PHCs) across the district.
Around 100 beneficiaries would be vaccinated in each centre and about 70 vaccination sites had been identified for carrying out the immunisation as mandated by the government. The dry run is being carried out to achieve successful vaccine delivery, she added.
The first dry run was done in only three government PHCs in the district. Now, the private hospitals had been roped in for the second dry run as they had been also identified for administering the vaccine to the healthcare workers in the private sector.
Stating that the district administration was fully prepared for the vaccination, Ms Sindhuri said she has no information on when the vaccine would be delivered to the district but the administration and the health authorities are fully prepared for the task. “Vaccine preparedness has been achieved,” she added.
She clarified that there was no shortage of cold storages for storing the vaccine, including in the rural areas. “All arrangements had been made. Healthcare providers will get the vaccine for free,” the DC replied.
Prioritised population groups identified for COVID-19 vaccination also include frontline workers (Priority 2) and Prioritized Age Group (Priority 3), according to the National Expert Group On Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC).
The frontline workers include personnel from the State and central Police department, Armed Forces, Home Guards and civil defence organisations including disaster management volunteers, Revenue Department and municipal workers.
Persons above 50 years of age and persons below 50 years of age with comorbidities fall in the Priority 3 list.
