BENGALURU: The Union Health Ministry has written to states, directing them to prepare protocol to train private vaccinators to administer shots once a vaccine is available. However, Karnataka is yet to decide whether health professionals from the private sector will have to be hired for the Covid-19 immunisation program.“We have been asked to keep training modules for private workers ready. The order says that if the state involves private workers for delivery of vaccines then they need to be compulsorily trained on this front.” said a senior health official.
Dr Rajani Nageshrao, Deputy Director for Immunisation at State Department of Health and Family Welfare said, “We are yet to take a decision on the training for private vaccinators. We will discuss it with the commissioner and only then take a decision taken regarding involving private vaccinators.”
Health experts point out that India’s Universal Immunisation Programme is always for a target group - such as pregnant women and children - and generally does not exceed more than 20-30 million at one go. But things will be different with Covid-19, they said.
“There is still a debate on whether private sector participation is needed or whether the government should handle this single-handedly with the existing networks. However, it is believed that if the government, as the largest employer, manages to vaccinate all its employees, and larger private players, including those in the health care sector, administer shots to their employees and families, nearly 10-12 million people will get vaccinated quickly.
However, for such a large vaccination project, the government should allow the private sector to participate with regulations in place for at least the first six months,” said a senior doctor from a renowned private hospital. Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar had earlier told TNIE that the state government has sufficient number of trained vaccinators and the government had already identified around 10,000 trained vaccinators.
A majority of them are those who had carried out the Measles Rubella (MR) immunisation campaign. Public health experts say that the number of vaccinators may be sufficient for the initial phase but the state government will need more vaccinators when the state gets into the second stage.