Private sector roped in to help with ph-3 in Gzb

With just one round of Covid-19 vaccination left for frontline workers, Ghaziabad health department officials said that they are gearing up for the third and largest category of beneficiaries -- people over 50 years and those with comorbidities.

This phase will have 15 rounds and 616,000 beneficiaries for their first dose in the district alone. It is expected to begin next march.

“Catering to such a large number of beneficiaries is a major challenge. First issue will be of listing people. For any vaccination day, we may have to accommodate those who may be travelling or out of station. So, we have made teams who will keep a tab on beneficiaries. Next, we have limited resources and staff. We have roped in 83 private sector establishments and will be able to get support of their staff as well,” said Dr NK Gupta, the district chief medical officer.

The health department has designated 188 session sites and 337 teams for 15 days. The beneficiaries will have to get their second dose of the vaccine after 28 days.

“All the session sites are hospitals or healthcare facilities, and they will come in handy in case we get adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) events. Next, we are waiting for further directions from the state government,” Dr Gupta said.

The health department has completed the vaccination rounds for the healthcare workers who are categorised as first category. The second category is of frontline workers whose final mop up round is scheduled for February 25.

On Monday, the penultimate mop up round for frontline workers saw 2,582 of the 6,415 expected beneficiaries take their first shot.

Ghaziabad District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey also took the shot on Monday and said that he suffered no AEFI issues.

Overall, about 9493 of 18100 identified frontline workers so far have taken the shots with coverage of about 52.44%. The overall figure for completed rounds for healthcare workers stood at 74.26% coverage with 17641 getting the vaccine shots of the total identified 23754 beneficiaries. a

READ: Noida, Ghaziabad told to take increase turnout for vaccinations