Vijayawada: Nearly 1.5 lakh healthcare staff have been administered the Covid-19 vaccine in Andhra Pradesh since January 16. Though it was initially planned to conduct the first phase of vaccination up to January 20, this phase will continue till Jan. 29.
Except for two days — holidays on January 24, Sunday, and January 26, Republic Day — the vaccination programme continued uninterrupted.
The authorities maintain that Covishield or Covaxin was given to nearly 1,49,760 persons. Out of these, about 50 persons developed minor adverse reactions following immunization -- like fever, body pain, giddiness, headache. It is being ascertained how the death of a 44-year-old ASHA worker occurred at the government hospital in Guntur a few days after taking the vaccine shot. Her pathology and autopsy reports are awaited.
After completion of Covid-19 vaccination on Jan 29, the authorities will give a few days’ gap. Pulse polio vaccination will be taken up at booth level up to February 2, at door-to-door level.
The second phase of the Covid-19 vaccination will start either on February 5 or 7, targeting frontline workers from departments like police, revenue, municipal administration and panchayat raj.
State health authorities said the technical glitches on Co-WIN app were resolved. At present, the text messages informing people about the date, time and venue of session site are being sent to targeted beneficiaries 24 hours in advance. They are minimising wastage of vaccine doses by waiting for some more time for the turn out of beneficiaries for jabs at the session sites.
The state received 8,85,500 Covishield vaccine and 1,64,320 Covaxin in two spells. A vial of Covishield vaccine will be having five ml while 0.5 ml dose of vaccine will be given to one individual. This means, a vial will be used for 10 persons. Similarly, a vial of Covaxin will be having 10 ml and it can be administered to 20 persons. These vaccines are having a shelf life of six months.
Health director Dr T. Geetha Prasadini said, “We have successfully administered vaccine to nearly 1.50 lakh healthcare workers.”
