Frontline worker Pushpa Kumari receives first COVID-19 vaccine shot in Andhra Pradesh

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive at Vijayawada Government General Hospital (GGH) on Saturday, marking the commencement of the state’s bid to put an end to the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 3.8 lakh health workers will be vaccinated in the first phase.

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Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide vaccination drive from New Delhi, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy formally launched it in the state from Vijayawada. Pushpa Kumari, a health worker, was the first person to get vaccinated in the state. Nagajyothi and three other health workers were also vaccinated in the presence of the Chief Minister who inspected the preparations made for the vaccination drive and interacted with beneficiaries at the session site.

B. Pushpakumari, sweeper, Medical Health Department, becomes the first frontline worker to be vaccinated in #AndhraPradesh.@NewIndianXpress #CovidVaccine #vaccination #vaccinationCovid pic.twitter.com/ddkZZAz2XD

— TNIE Andhra Pradesh (@xpressandhra) January 16, 2021

While 50 beneficiaries will be given the vaccine shot at the GGH, 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated at the rest of the 331 sites across the state on the first day. "At present we have to check if the Co-WIN application can take the load of 1,300 beneficiaries per day for Andhra Pradesh and so for the initial four to five days we will vaccinate only 100 beneficiaries per day per site. However, once the load capacity is clearly known, we may increase the number of people getting vaccinated per day from 100 to as per the capacity," technical support head, UNDP, Dr Joshua told The New Indian Express.

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Each beneficiary was given the Covishield vaccine jab and kept under the mandatory observation period of 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, just after she was vaccinated, 43-year-old Radha Krishna, who works as a cleaning staff at Vijayawada Government General Hospital, fainted. She was shifted to the Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) centre, set up within the hospital premises. She was checked by a cardiologist, neurologist and general physician under the supervision of a pulmonologist. After the medical checkup, it was diagnosed that she had suffered an anxiety attack and the dizziness was because of the fact that she did not have any breakfast since morning. She was given regular glucose saline and kept under observation.

Vaccination of health workers continued across the state under the close supervision of medical experts.