Lucknow: 8,500 health workers to get Covid jab in 2nd round

Lucknow, Jan 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) Over 8,500 health care workers will be vaccinated in the state capital during the second round of vaccination drive scheduled on January 22.

The exercise will be carried in 85 booths at 32 centres in Lucknow.

According to the district immunization officer Dr. M.K. Singh. "The third and fourth rounds will be held on January 28 and January 29 in which 8,500 health workers will be vaccinated in each session."

Around 840 beneficiaries, out of 1,200 enlisted for vaccination on January 16, had reported to get their first dose. Those absent on the first day will also get a second chance on Friday.

Every beneficiary will be given two shots of vaccine in a gap of 28 days for full immunity. Over 51,000 health care workers are being vaccinated in the first phase, while frontline workers like police and civic personnel will be given shots in the second phase followed by elderly and those with comorbidities.

Chief medical officer (CMO) Lucknow, Dr. Sanjay Bhatnagar, said, "The names of centres for the second round have not been finalised yet, but 12 centres that participated in the first round will be the part of the next as well."

At each booth, 100 recipients will be vaccinated in two shifts of 50 health workers each. The drive will start at 10 a.m. but vaccinators, security staff, emergency health staff will reach the respective vaccination centres at 9 a.m.

The CMO said the vaccines kept in cold carriers will be transported from the cold storage to the cold chain points nearest to the centres on Thursday and will be transported to the centres an hour before the start of the drive on Friday morning.

Dr. Bhatnagar said, "We have decided to send SMS in bulk to the beneficiaries selected for the jab. However, if there are technical issues in the Co-WIN application as it was on the opening day, we will carry out the work manually by calling each beneficiary and informing them about their vaccination schedule."

There are 61 vaccine centres with 180 booths in the city but all have not been made functional at one go. The centres are being made operational gradually in phases to avoid chaos and to make necessary changes based on the experiences of initial rounds.

The biggest vaccination centre is the King George Medical University (KGMU) with 33 booths, followed by Era Medical College with 17, RMLIMS (nine) and SGPGIMS eight.

The 12 centres that were part of the inaugural day are -- KGMU, SGPGIMS, RMLIMS, Balrampur Hospital, Avanti Bai Hospital, Era Medical College, TS Mishra hospital, Sahara Hospital, Medanta Hospital, and community health centres of Chinhat, Maal and Mohanlalganj.

Source: IANS