District Task Force meeting held for COVID-19 vaccination drive in Assam's Hailakandi

Hailakandi: The final countdown for the massive COVID-19 vaccination drive has begun in South Assam's Hailakandi district along with the rest of the country to be conducted on Saturday.

A meeting of the District Task Force on COVID-19 vaccination was chaired by Deputy Commissioner, Megh Nidhi Dahal with health officials and functionaries at his office here on Friday.

The District Immunisation Officer (DIO), Dr.KTS Rangmei and Joint Director, Health Services, Dr. Ashutosh Barman briefed the Deputy Commissioner about the arrangements being made at the SK Roy Civil Hospital session site for the vaccination to be carried out on Saturday.

Dahal asked all the health functionaries to pull out all stops for hassle-free vaccination exercise. He asked the health authorities for proper scheduling of programme to ensure that there is no wastage of vials."Multiples of ten beneficiaries should be ensured so that each vial is used within four hours of its opening. Towards that end, planning has to be done in an organised way," he said.

Dahal warned of harsh action if there is any misuse of vaccine and if there is any proxy vaccination. "Criminal case will be filed against anyone found guilty," he warned.

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The Deputy Commissioner asked the police and district information and public relations officer to keep a tab on social media to ensure that there is no adverse report on the COVID-19 vaccine. In the same vein, Dahal asked the health authorities to take all possible measures to scotch rumour mongering about the COVID-19 vaccine and to step up IEC campaign about the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.

He asked the verifiers to ensure entry of data on a priority basis and warned that there should not be any falsification of data.

Dahal asked the DIO and Superintendent of SK Roy Civil Hospital to keep a close watch on the health care and frontline workers who have received the first dose for the next five to six days.

DIO, Rangmei disclosed that 15 cold chain points have been identified for the entire district for the vaccination drive to be carried out in course of time.

Rangmei said the COVID-19 vaccination would be conducted without disrupting the routine immunisation drive.

Meanwhile, Hailakandi district is fully geared up for the COVID-19 vaccination exercise with block task force committee constituted in all the five development blocks, including Urban.

Earlier, the run up to the vaccination drive was conducted successfully at three session sites of the district.

4,027 health care workers have enrolled online out of which 1,926 would be vaccinated in the first phase in the next couple of days beginning Saturday. 214 covishield vials comprising 2,140 doses will arrive on Friday which will be stored in the district vaccine store. A target of 100 vaccination per day has been set by the state health authorities.

The second consignment of 36,000 doses of the vaccine from Bharat Biotech arrived at Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport, Borjhar in Guwahati on Wednesday morning.

A freighter from Hyderabad brought the second consignment of three boxes (each box containing 12,000 doses) for Assam.

On Tuesday evening, the first consignment of 2.40 lakh vials of Covishield vaccine for Assam and Meghalaya had landed at the LGBI airport.

A total of 20 boxes having vaccine close to 2,40,000 doses was delivered at the Guwahati airport, out of which 17 are for Assam and three for Meghalaya, and each box has 12,000 doses of the vaccine.

The boxes were handed over to the health authorities within the stipulated nine minutes of arrival.

The LGBI Airport has been marked as the nodal point of distribution of vaccines for the North East and it is equipped to transport COVID-19 vaccines to all the states of the region.

Assam has identified 74 centres across the state for the Covid vaccination drive, and around 1.90 lakh health care and front line workers will be vaccinated in the first phase.

Covishield and Covaxin, the two vaccines which are currently available, will be administered in two doses, with a gap of 28 days between each dose. Citizens are expected to stick to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour during and after the vaccination process.

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