STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Assam is almost ready with men and mechanism for the first phase of COVID-19 vaccination drive across the State.
The readiness involves storage of vaccines, process of vaccination, and maintenance of law-and-order situation during the drive among others. To make the drive a hassle-free affair, three committees have been set up. These are the 'State Steering Committee' chaired by the Chief Secretary; the 'State Task Force' chaired by the Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare and the 'District Task Forces' chaired by the respective Deputy Commissioners. All these committees have initiated their meetings.
According to the Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare department, Samir Sinha, the State-level nodal officers for the COVID-19 vaccination drive are the Director of Health Services and the Director of NHM (National Health Mission). He also said that stock taking of cold chains and other vaccine storage facilities are going on in full swing. Training to vaccinators, identifying vaccination location and sessions, coordination with various departments of the State and the Central governments, guiding the district authorities for effective implementation of the vaccination drive among other moves are underway in accordance with the Government of India's and Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's guidelines, he added.
Sinha said, "Five-member vaccination teams each comprising a doctor, a nurse, officials and security personnel will be formed. The responsibility of each team will be to vaccinate 100 beneficiaries. The number of members of such teams may vary in accordance with needs.
"To avoid anomalies of any sort, the State Steering Committee and the State Task Force have already held their respective first meetings. The meetings have sent clear-cut instructions to the districts regarding the vaccination drive.
"Apart from this, the Block-wise task force meetings have been also initiated. All possible steps, including the back-up plans, have been taken to make the vaccination drive a success."
According to the Central government guidelines, the priorities in the vaccination drive are (i) doctors, nurses and other on-duty health staff, (ii) security personnel on COVID-19 duty and (iii) people attaining 50 years of age and above.
Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said earlier that Assam would need around 60 lakh vaccines in the phase-1 of the drive.
According to the Central government's guidelines, a digitalized platform – COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) System – will be used to track the enlisted beneficiaries for the vaccination and anti-Coronavirus vaccines on a real-time basis.
Any of the 12 photo identity documents — including voter ID, Aadhaar Card, driving licence, passport and pension documents — can be used for self-registration on the Co-WIN website for vaccination. At the vaccination site, only pre-registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated in accordance with prioritization, and there will be no provision for on-the-spot registration.
Also Watch: Director Biswajit Bora to direct a film on queen Sati Sadhani in both Assamese and Hindi