Day 1: All 12 Lucknow centres to have women vaccinators
LUCKNOW : Women will spearhead the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in Lucknow on Saturday.
All 12 coronavirus disease vaccination centres in the state capital will have women vaccinators, who are ANMs (auxiliary nurse midwives), on the first day of the inoculation campaign here.
ANMs are said to be first contact persons between the community and state-run health services.
Anita Chaudhary, an ANM who would part of the Covid vaccination drive, said she had prepared for the task.
“It’s a national programme and I feel proud to be part of the vaccination drive that shall save millions (of lives). I will also be saving hundreds of lives by vaccinating them,” said Chaudhary, 35. She is deployed at the community health centre in Chinhat and has been tasked with the Covid vaccination work at an urban primary health centre in the city.
“For the past one year, since the pandemic began, I didn’t get any rest day. But not availing a holiday never troubled me as I was saving
lives,” said Chaudhary, who joined health service in 2007.
Usha, an ANM working at the Mal community health centre, was excited to be chosen for the Covid-19 vaccination work.
She said, “I have injected medicines/vaccines to thousands of beneficiaries, but this Covid vaccination is special as it is a new disease and people have hopes from the vaccination programme.”
Mrdalini Arya, an ANM at the Mohanlalganj community health centre, would also be a vaccinator in Lucknow on Day
One of the nationwide campaign.
“The dry run has made us conversant with the entire system. I believe the actual vaccination will certainly go off smoothly. My job is in three steps. I will take four to five minutes to complete the vaccination of one person,” she said.
Sangeeta Devi, ANM at the urban primary health centre in Sadar, said, “As the vaccination drive rolls out, I hope life will get back to normal for all healthcare workers who have had no holiday since March 2020.”
Confident about her work, Sangeeta, who belongs to Sultanpur, said, “We have done practice sessions. The vaccination will certainly go off smoothly.”
“The ANMs have been given training for Covid vaccination. At present, all 180 vaccination session sites will have them vaccinate beneficiaries. When more sites come up, we will have pharmacists and other health staff to vaccinate,” said Yogesh Raghuvanshi, spokesperson for the health department in Lucknow.
An ANM has to match the identity of the person, vaccinate him or her and then update the information on the portal to state that the person has been vaccinated. Once the ANM updates the portal, the beneficiary will get an SMS.
In Lucknow, 1,200 beneficiaries will be vaccinated on the first day.