In first lot, only 83k healthcare staff of Vid to get Covishield shots

Nagpur: Vidarbha has received Covid-19 vaccine doses for only 82,800 (51.94%) health care workers as against 1,59,427 who have registered for phase-I of the vaccination programme to be launched on Saturday at 56 centres in 11 districts of the region.
Vaccine vials for six districts of Nagpur division reached Mata Kacheri — office of the deputy director of health services Dr Sanjay Jaiswal — at 2.45am on Thursday.A team led by assistant director Dr RK Dhakate and chief pharmacy officer DS Lokhande distributed the allotted packages to Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), Nagpur zilla parishad and four districts — Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Gondia — by 4.15am. The vehicle from Wardha arrived late so the vaccine was handed over to them at 10am.
Five districts of Amravati division — Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Yavatmal and Washim — received the vaccine from Pune by road on Wednesday night.
All vaccines received in Vidarbha are Covishield which is manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII). As per the label on boxes, they have been manufactured on November 4, 2020 and are valid up to May 2, 2021.
A total 1,84,000 doses (18,400 vials) were received for the region. Dr Jaiswal told TOI that the state government has asked that 10% doses (1,840) be kept against wastage. “Each beneficiary has to get a dose after 28 days of the first shot. The doses available now will be used for the first and second shots,” he said.
This means about 1,65,600 doses are available which will cover the registered 82,800 healthcare workers. The remaining 76,627 (48.06%) will be administered vaccine when state sends the second consignment of vaccine.
“Vials will continue to be sent so the others too will be vaccinated,” said Dr Jaiswal.
According to Amravati divisional commissioner Piyush Singh about 30,000 health care workers will be administered the 70,000 doses received.
According to NMC additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi, Covid healthcare workers at government hospitals will be “covered first”.
It is apparent that healthcare workers of private hospitals will have to wait till further consignments are received. Even frontline workers like government employees, police of state and centre will have to wait for their doses.
The situation has thrown a challenge for the authorities to store the vaccine for 28 days and also to ensure that it is not mixed with the subsequent consignments. Sources said that the government on Thursday decided that beneficiaries should get the first and second shots from the same batch.
In Nagpur city, 25,164 healthcare workers are registered. The NMC received 23,900 doses. In a press release, the civic body said only 10,000 will be covered in the first lot.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Nitin Shinde feels that health care workers — be it government or private — who are yet to test positive should be administered the vaccine first. “Vaccine to those with antibodies can be delayed till more doses arrive,” he said.
For the second time, the government has reduced the number of vaccination centres. From 71 on Wednesday, it is now 56. In Nagpur city, it is 5 from 60. Each centre will cover only 100 beneficiaries in a day. Earlier, the government had asked that vaccination be given at all centres from January 18.
In Nagpur city, GMCH is one of the five centres. The government on Thursday evening asked the GMCH to use only Covaxin manufactured by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. However, it is yet to receive the doses.
Joshi said that GMCH will be replaced by another centre for January 16 in case of delay in receiving doses.
Dr Jaiswal appealed to healthcare workers to continue wearing mask, maintaining social distancing and follow other guidelines. “All these are required as antibodies do not develop on next day of vaccination,” he said.
Dr Shinde said that anti-bodies develop “2-3 three weeks after the first shot”. “The process speeds up after the second shot. Therefore, precaution still has to be taken,” he added.
On Thursday, the NMC conducted another dry run at 10 centres. Syringes in sufficient quantity have also been distributed to all districts along with vaccines.
Meanwhile, in pictures that went viral some doctors of Gadchiroli were seen opening the boxes of vaccines, displayed and posing with them. Vaccines are to be mandatorily stored in a temperature of 2-8 degree Celsius all the time as per instructions printed on the vials and boxes.