Stating that the vaccination programme would prove to be an effective step in overcoming global Covid-19 pandemic, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said the State Government has made all necessary arrangements for the successful implementation of Covid-19 vaccination programme commencing today at 77 sites in the State.
He said two vaccines namely Covishield of Serum Institute of India and Covaxin of India Biotech are authorised for emergency use in Haryana. He said that on January 13, the State had received more than 2.4 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine and the first supply of 20,000 doses of Covaxin.
Khattar was interacting with the Covid vaccination beneficiaries and service providers of Medanta-The Medicity, Gurugram and other government and private health institutions in the State through video conferencing here in Chandigarh.
The address of Chief Minister was telecast live at all 77 sites in the State including two-way connectivity at Civil Dispensary, Sector-4, Panchkula and Government Primary School, Wazirabad, Gurugram.
He said the population has been prioritised in view of the high demand of vaccines initially. Several groups have been included in the vaccination of Covid-19 and the vaccine would be administered sequentially starting from Health Care Workers.
Khattar said those who have been included in Group 1 include health workers (doctors, nurse, ANM, pharmacists, sweeper, lab technician, helper, ASHA, Anganwadi workers, etc).
Similarly, those who have been included in Group-2 include frontline workers such as municipal and sanitation workers, state and central police forces, civil security, prison staff and armed forces like armed line workers. Now the revenue staff has been added to it. He said that the population above 50 years of age and Population below 50 years with co-morbidities have been included in Group-3.
The Chief Minister said that to ensure smooth, effective and target based implementation of vaccination programme, beneficiaries have been enrolled in the digital platform (CoWIN software).
He said for the successful implementation of the vaccination programme, health care workers and health facilities have been registered on the CoWIN platform.
This includes about two lakh health workers, 5,044 vaccinators, 765 Public Health facilities, 3,634 Private health facilities, 18,921 session sites and 1,005 observers.
He said that Haryana has adequate cold chain space to store the Covid-19 vaccine. A State Level Vaccine Store has been set up in Kurukshetra. Apart from this, four regional level stores have been set up in Hisar, Rohtak, Kurukshetra and Gurugram.
Also, 22 vaccine stores (one in each district) have also been set up. Apart from this, arrangement of 22 insulated vaccine vans has been made for the transportation of vaccine to 659 cold chain points across Haryana.
Khattar said that Haryana had enough Covid hospitals to treat Corona patients and all the hospitals are equipped with oxygen beds, ICU beds and ventilators. He said that the Health Department has also set up a 1075 helpline for the assistance of citizens of the State. Today the recovery rate in Haryana is more than 98 percent and the mortality rate is about 1 percent which is much lower than most states, he asserted.
He said however, cases of Coronavirus are decreasing and the Covid-19 vaccine has also come up, the people still need to be vigilant to prevent the further spread of CoronaVirus by following precautionary measures like wearing a mask, maintaining hand hygiene and a physical distance of two yards. He also urged the people not to panic from Corona as it is completely curable. Citing his own example, the Chief Minister said that he remained admitted in Medanta, Gurugram for 17 days due to Corona. As a result of strong will power and dedication of doctors, he successfully recovered from Covid.
Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Rajeev Arora said that Saroj Bala was the first Healthcare worker to have been successfully vaccinated at Government Dispensary, Sector-4, Panchkula.
He said that Director General Health Services Suraj Bhan Kamboj, Additional Director General Health Services, Dr Veena Singh, Director, National Health Mission, Haryana Dr VK Bansal, Civil Surgeon, Panchkula Dr Jasjeet Kaur, State Immunization Officer Dr. Virender Ahlawat, were among the few who came forward and got themselves vaccinated so as to infuse confidence among other people of the State towards the vaccination.
Dr Naresh Trehan of Medanta-The Medicity Gurugram who was also among the doctors of Medanta that got vaccinated on Saturday told the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar that Covid vaccination is necessary for the safety of people, their family and the society. He said that mild fever and body pain after the vaccination is normal and people should not worry about these symptoms.
