Following the Central Government’s restricted emergency use authorization for two vaccines in the country, the Maharashtra Health Department is now making preparations for mass immunisation. As per authorities familiar with the matter, the first phase of vaccinations will be completed within the first 10 days of receiving the vaccines from the Centre.
As of now, the Central Government has approved two vaccines - Covishield produced by Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech.
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Officials are currently anticipating a rollout of the vaccines by February and the State Health Department has reportedly trained 16,000 vaccinators for the mass immunisation process. These vaccinators will have the responsibility of vaccinating up to 12 lakh healthcare workers which includes ASHA workers, doctors, nurses, and Anganwadi staff, among a few other segments of the population.
Elaborating on the process, State Surveillance Officer, Dr Pradeep Awate said, “One vaccinator can vaccinate around 100 people each day. So, we would take a maximum of 10 days to complete the first phase of the vaccination. We have enough manpower to vaccinate one lakh healthcare workers every day.”
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In preparation for the rollout, the Central Government has launched the CoWIN app which will help track vaccination and dosage. It is said that around 7.5 lakh healthcare workers have registered themselves on this app.
However, Dr Awate said that registrations on the app have slowed down over the past 10 days, adding that they have decided to keep the registrations open for the time being.
Speaking on the preparations and the agency’s experience with vaccinations, Director of Health Services, Dr Archana Patil said, “Overall, every year, we provide over 1.30 crore dosages. Our latest example was Rubella vaccination when we vaccinated around three crore children within three months. So, we hold practical experience in the immunisation process.”
Currently, the Health Department has marked 2,500 locations, mostly consisting of healthcare centres, as vaccination zones. “Depending on the need, we will extend the vaccination points. We have 2,500 healthcare centres for use. Along with that, if we need more centres, we can also ask the corporations to find places,” Dr Patil added.
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