ROURKELA/JEYPORE: As Covid-19 vaccination plans for health workers gain momentum, the Sundargarh district administration is putting in place necessary arrangements to respond to any call on short notice. Over 16,000 health personnel in both government and private sectors have been registered in the district and the administration is readying 47 cold chain points. Plans are afoot to create five more cold chains in the district.
At a task force meeting held recently under the chairmanship of Sundargarh Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan, various line departments were sensitised on ways to conduct the exercise smoothly. Such meetings have also been conducted in all 17 blocks of the district.Chief district medical and public health officer Dr Saroj Kumar Mishra said more than 16,000 health personnel, around 25 per cent of them from private sector, have registered themselves with the Co-Win registration portal to get vaccine shots.
The regional vaccine store at Sundargarh town with capacity to store above one lakh doses would cater to the need of the district and adjacent Jharsuguda. Sundargarh has 47 cold chain points with ice line refrigerators and deep freezers. Besides, five more would be set up at Rourkela and other places. Mishra said the district headquarters hospital, Rourkela government hospital, Rajgangpur area hospital, Bonai sub-divisional hospital and Birmitrapur community health centre would be designated vaccine centres. Each centre would be capable of vaccinating 100 to 200 receivers.
Since it is going to be a new vaccine, those receiving the shots would be kept under observation for at least 30 minutes. It is estimated that all 16,000 health personnel could be covered in 16 working days. The Health department is mulling a single vaccine for all districts, but the government is also ready with alternate distribution plan if there is more than one vaccine, Mishra added. Given all the available cold chain storage specification of 2 to 8 degree C, the USA’s Pfizer vaccine remains a remote possibility.
Similarly, the Koraput district administration is on its toes to ensure smooth conduct of Covid-19 vaccination of frontline workers in the first phase.A task force headed by Koraput Collector Madhusudan Mishra has been formed and it has already identified the beneficiaries from different departments of the district.
Official sources said around 12,076 beneficiaries would get the vaccine in the first phase and the administration has selected 1,624 vaccination centres for the purpose. As many as 426 trained personnel will be engaged in the vaccination programme.
The district has 39 high-powered refrigerators in different hospitals to store the vaccine. However, the administration has sought 21 more refrigerators from the government to cater to the needs arising out of any emergency.
Chief district medical officer Makarananda Behura informed that the health wing is all set to meet the requirements of the vaccination programme as per government guidelines. “We will start the programme as soon as the Covid-19 vaccine is available in the district,” Behura added.