SHILLONG/TURA/MAWKYRWAT, Jan 21: Altogether 420 health workers were vaccinated in Meghalaya on Thursday, taking the total number of health workers vaccinated in the state to more than 1700.
The COVID-19 vaccination drive in the state was rolled out in the state last Saturday, with only 518 registered health workers receiving the shots out of the 874 targetted on the first day.
Subsequently on January 19, 507 health workers in the state were vaccinated while 328 health workers were vaccinated the next day.
Meghalaya is eyeing coverage of 16,000 health workers out of the 27,000 identified so far during the first phase of vaccination.
Once all the health workers are vaccinated, the programme will cover frontline workers, municipal workers, police and people working in the field of disaster management.
In the third phase, the vaccination programme will cover people above 50 years of age and those with comorbidities.
Dr FR Lartang, District Medical and Health Officer, SWKH on Thursday. (ST)
Meanwhile, altogether 1,92,581 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till 6 pm on the sixth day of vaccination drive throughout the country while the cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 has touched 9,99,065 (till 6 pm on Thursday) through a total of 18,159 sessions.
So far, Meghalaya has not seen any adverse reaction from the vaccine in any of the beneficiaries who have received the shots.
SGH vaccination
Medical workers of the Chokpot community and health centre were the first to be administered the COVID vaccine in South Garo Hills in the first phase on Thursday.
Altogether 39 frontline health workers, including doctors, nurses and hospital attendants took the shots on the premises of the CHC.
However, 15 health workers out of the 54 targetted for the day could not take the vaccine due to various reasons.
Those who could not take the vaccine included lactating mothers and also a few who had underlying health issues, informed doctors.
Litresh Sangma, the medical officer of Chokpot CHC, was the first to be administered the vaccine.
Earlier, the vaccination programme began with a function attended by community and village elders.
The health workers who took the vaccination were also handed out certificates.
The district hospital at Baghmara is slated to conduct the vaccination early next week.
SWKH joins drive
South West Khasi Hills deputy commissioner, Caramai Kharkongor on Thursday launched the COVID-19 vaccination programme at the Corona Care Centre at Laitlawsang in the district.
Speaking as chief guest, Kharkongor said the vaccination would be done in a phased manner with the first phase slotted for health workers, second phase for frontline workers and the third phase for persons above 50 years of age besides those below 50 years but with co-morbid conditions.
“Today, we are taking a first step for COVID vaccination for all the healthcare workers from the community health centre in Mawkyrwat. Soon we will launch phases two and three as per vaccine availability. Therefore, I request all the healthcare workers to come forward and get vaccinated so that we can expand our stock and get more vaccines,” he said.
The deputy commissioner also said the persons not supposed to take the vaccine are those below 18 years of age, pregnant women and lactating mothers besides those who have allergic reactions to the previous dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The DC also urged upon the health workers and the people of the district not to believe in rumours claiming the vaccine to be dangerous or to have prolonged side effects.
“There are many countries who have requested India for this vaccine and these countries are Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles. This shows that if the vaccine had side effects, these countries would not have come forward to ask for the vaccine from our country,” Kharkongor said.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, Kharkongor informed that F.R Lartang, the district medical and health officer was the first from the district to receive the vaccination. At the end of the day, 30 persons were vaccinated and there was no AEFI case reported till the filing of this report.
J. Takkar, WHO consultant, who was part of the vaccination process, said the vaccine “is quite safe and people should avail the vaccination without any fear.”
Teilang Kharsyiemlieh, medical officer of Mawkyrwat expressed his gratefulness to the Centre and the researchers for their hard work in developing a vaccine to fight COVID-19.