BENGALURU: Immunisation of health workers is progressing at a snail’s pace, and at this rate, states will not be able to vaccinate even 1 per cent of the population within the stipulated time, experts said. Union Health Ministry data shows that until the end of last week, three of every four eligible health workers had not taken their scheduled second dose of the vaccine.Epidemiologist and member of the state’s Covid Advisory Committee Dr Giridhara Babu tweeted on Friday that the Centre must consider “out of the box solutions” to speed up the vaccine drive.
“We need a walk-in vaccination process: anyone with a valid identity card should be allowed to self-register, authenticate age in a minute, get vaccinated, wait for an hour and go home,” he added.He told TNIE that the current system of pre-registration is a hindrance. Health staff worked hard when the number of Covid infections peaked and need rest. “Health workers need time to organise themselves and be efficient. Instead, the system is keeping them busy again 24/7 because of pre-registration and technical glitches on the CoWIN app,” he said.
Experts pointed out that only about three million people are being vaccinated per day across the country. “It has the potential to vaccinate 10 million per day. Mission Indradhanush of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry had 1,19,430 sessions. Multiply it by 100 per session and we are close to 10 million per day. There are more than 10,000 auxiliary nurses and midwives, both regular and contractual. They routinely administer injections. If they give 100 shots a day, one million per day should not be an issue at all. 10,000 staff nurses are also available with the government and will add another million per day,” Babu said.
Dr C N Manjunath, member of the Covid Technical Advisory Committee and director for Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, said the government should start roping in private facilities to augment the capacity to cover 7-10 million per day.“Like testing was allowed to be done by the private sector, I think it is now time for the government to allow them to even vaccinate. Prices can be capped. Also, governments should coordinate with India Inc and other NGOs,” he added.
Epidemiologists suggested vaccinating high-risk states and covering all elderly and those with comorbidities first. Dr Babu said this is being done in a phased manner with the MR vaccine campaign, with four to five states covered in each phase. Around 15-40 million children were covered in less than 40 days in each state, he said.
According to Dr Babu, a staggered approach based on the risk profile should be adopted. Around 1.25 crore elderly people could be covered in 10 days by pooling resources and walk-in sessions. “For the next two months there should be a nationwide survey to identify people with comorbidities and vaccinate them,” he said.