Second COVID-19 Vaccine Shot To Be Administered To Healthcare Workers From February 13: Dr VK Paul

New Delhi: The second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to healthcare workers from February 13, and 97 per cent people who have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine are satisfied, said the central government on Thursday (February 4). Addressing the press conference here, Dr Paul said, “The first phase of the nationwide vaccination drive against COVID-19 had begun on January 16. Healthcare workers have only been given the first dose, so far. The second dose of vaccine will be administered to healthcare workers from February 13.”

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Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that a total of 45,93,427 doses of vaccines have been administered in the country.

India has become the fastest nation to reach 4 million COVID-19 vaccinations. It took only 18 days to administer the first 4 million vaccines. While we are doing the immunization of health care and frontline workers across the country, we are using 1239 private as vaccination session sites. At the same time, we are using 5912 public hospitals as vaccination sites, he added.

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Explaining about the Rapid Assessment System (RAS), which is a feedback mechanism practised through the Co-Win platform, Mr Bhushan said that a personalized SMS sent to all beneficiaries a day after vaccination.

A total of 97 per cent people who have received COVID-19 vaccine are satisfied with overall vaccination experience. The results are based on the feedback registered by vaccinated people. Out of 37,10,34,000 people, 5,12,128 have responded, he said.

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“Madhya Pradesh ranks first in immunising the state’s healthcare workers; praiseworthy performance. The state has been immunised 73 per cent of its health care workers in just 18 days,” he added.

Mr Bhushan asserted that there is a very structured and robust system of Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) monitoring in this country.

It has been further strengthened in view of COVID19 vaccination. We have 8,563 AEFI so far, when we have done vaccination in lakhs. This is 0.18 per cent of vaccinated people. There have been 34 cases of hospitalisation, which is 0.0007 per cent of the people who have been immunized, he said.

“There are 19 deaths of vaccinated people. The system is this when a person dies after vaccination, a post-mortem is done by the board of three doctors. Then there is a states AEFI committee which looks whether vaccination was the cause of the death. Then there is nation AEFI committee which then looks all these cases. Once the national AEFI committee gives it report shortly, we will give the answer,” he added.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.