Stage set for COVID vaccine drive: Himanta Biswa Sarma
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Health & Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday asserted that Assam is ready to carry out the vaccination drive against COVID-19.
"The drive will start very soon. We are waiting for the green signal from the Central Government to launch the drive. Doctors, nurses and other Health workers will receive the vaccine shot first. Other categories of people will be vaccinated in a phased manner," said Sarma.
On the other hand, sources in the Health department said that around 1.5 lakh doctors, nurses, paramedics and various other Health workers would be covered in the first phase. The frontline staffs such as police, CRPF, emergency staffs will be vaccinated in the second phase. The third phase will cover the high-risk group (people in the age group of 50 to 60 years) with co-morbidity conditions.
Meanwhile, department sources informed that the State has already created the infrastructures and facilities to store 370 lakh doses of vaccines at one time in temperature ranging between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. The State has also set up 723 cold chain points where the vaccines will be finally administered.
The stage is set for the dry run campaign on Friday, added the source.