New vaccination SOP in place in Bengal after fraud unearthed

TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty among participants injected with an antibiotic at a camp in Kolkata

West Bengal has issued a set of guidelines to be followed by non-government entities carrying out vaccination drives against COVID-19, a move that follows the discovery that fake vaccine was administered at a camp in Kolkata. The participants at this camp, held in the neighbourhood of Kasba, included actor and TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty.

The SOP makes it mandatory for private commercial health facilities and workplace administrations desiring to hold a camp to seek prior approval from the Health Department. “All private CVC [covid vaccination centres] must maintain a dynamic inventory of vaccines disclosing the source of their supplies, cold chain maintenance mechanisms, day-to-day consumption of vaccine doses and inform the Health Department through an end-of-the-day report [through Google spreadsheet],” said the State Government order issued late on Saturday evening.

The order also requires private CVCs to submit to the Health Department every Sunday the list of people receiving both their doses of a vaccine. All vaccination will have to be done through the CoWIN portal only and CoWIN-authenticated code number must be displayed at the camp.

At the end of the vaccination session, the private CVC must submit a performance report to the local health authority. Not only that: all recipients would be observed for 30 minutes for Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI).

The camp at Kasba took place on June 21, and the fact that those vaccinated were actually injected with an antibiotic was discovered when Ms. Chakraborty became suspicious after she didn’t receive a vaccination certificate or a confirmation message on her phone and lodged a police complaint the following day. The State government has already set up a probe into the fraud.

“This order is very important. Monitoring for AEFI for 30 minutes, which is a must, was not being followed in many camps, but now it is a must. Maintenance of cold chain is very important to get maximum immunity from vaccine, while Google spreadsheets and weekly submission of data will take care of unauthorised use of vaccine. Basically, every centre will now be accountable, which will strengthen the vaccination drive in our State,” said Dr. Rajiv Pandey of the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum.