BENGALURU: In a mammoth preparation across the country for the much-awaited vaccination against Covid-19, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) has sent a circular to the Departments of Health and Family Welfare of all states and Union Territories, asking them to collect data of all frontline healthcare workers (FHWs) from government and private hospitals.
The Department of Health & Family Welfare, Karnataka, received the circular last weekend, which has been forwarded to all government and private hospitals, asking them to submit by this weekend the details of all healthcare workers, from Group D employees to top medical fraternity at their hospitals who are and have been on Covid duty, official sources said.
“The MoHFW is preparing a database of HCWs, defined as healthcare providers and other workers in healthcare settings (both government and private), who may be prioritised for receiving the Covid-19 vaccine,” the letter from the Centre stated.
The vaccine will be administered to all the 1.3 billion Indians with frontline healthcare workers being on the top of the priority list. India is hopeful of two vaccine candidates–Oxford University-AstraZeneca’s ‘Covishield’ and the Russian ‘Sputnik V’ vaccine.
Oxford vaccine in contention
The Drug Controller General of India has cleared Sputnik V for testing by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. An interim analysis of Covishield has shown “encouraging immune response in the young and elderly people with low adverse reactions in the elderly.”
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is being tested in the country and manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, which is also the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines.
On the vaccination strategy, well-known immunologist from Bengaluru Dr Chandrashekhar said it would depend on the nature and longevity of the immune response generated by the vaccine.
“A good immune response is a surrogate marker of the efficiency of the vaccine. One will have to wait and watch whether the vaccine against Covid would give us long-time protection or it should be repeated once a year. It is difficult to say how long the response would last since vaccine trials began only four to six months ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a boost to FHWs in private hospitals, the government has extended the insurance scheme for those working on Covid duty under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package, subject to conditions.
The insurance scheme provides for a “comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs 50 lakh for all public HCWs, who may have to be in direct contact and care of Covid-19 patients and at the risk of being impacted by this,” stated the circular sent by Commissioner, Health & Family Welfare Services, Karnataka, Pankaj Pandey on October 22.