Another shot within the arm: West Bengal begins Covid jabs for aged

West Bengal on Monday started vaccinating individuals above 60 years of age and people above 45 years of age with comorbidities within the third part of the nationwide Covid-19 immunisation programme after two precedence teams: well being and frontline staff.
A complete of 17,079 individuals had been vaccinated on Monday with no case of opposed occasion following immunisation (AEFI) reported, mentioned a well being official including that the brand new CoWIN-2 portal was stricken by glitches.
“The third phase of the Covid vaccination using the new portal version CoWIN-2 started today throughout the state. Besides health and frontline workers, and election officials, elderly people and those above 45 people with co-morbidities were vaccinated today. The portal issues were there, and the vaccination programme suffered because of that. So far, 17,079 were reported to be vaccinated, and there is no information of any AEFI case,” mentioned the official.
People within the two age teams got the Covid photographs in at the very least 10 personal and 15 authorities hospitals.
While individuals can register themselves on the portal and select the Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) as per their comfort, many needed to walk-in for registration attributable to glitches, mentioned one other well being official. Sources mentioned a number of beneficiaries on Monday visited hospitals after reserving their slots on the CoWin 2.0 app.
At SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, beneficiaries had been principally registering on the spot. Many had been made to attend. As per the official, the poll-bound state should full the vaccination earlier than the elections.
While vaccination is free at authorities hospitals, personal hospitals will cost Rs 250 a dose for the 2 age teams.
“AMRI Hospitals started its drive for community vaccination along with the rest of the nation today at two of its CVCs in Dhakuria and Mukundapur,” mentioned an hospital official. AMRI administered 147 photographs to common individuals, together with six to these with illnesses, at its two CVCs.
“On Day 1, we faced some teething problems, but we are sure these will be sorted out within this week. Since this is the first such drive in India, all of us are learning at every step,” mentioned Rupak Barua, Group CEO of AMRI Hospitals.Barua highlighted the scarcity of specifically designed syringes.
“The syringe used for inoculation is a specially-designed one, which has a locking mechanism to stop extraction of greater than 0.5 ml of the vaccine. This syringe is offered by a handful of producers, who’re at the moment supplying solely to the federal government. While we’ve got been receiving syringes from the federal government for vaccination of healthcare and different frontline staff since January 16, we’ve got to obtain syringes ourselves for the group vaccination.
We are engaged on our provide chain. The authorities has assured us of all its assist on this regard,” mentioned Barua.
Meanwhile, West Bengal reported 198 new Covid-19 circumstances within the final 24 hours, taking the entire to five,75,316. As many as 10,268 have succumbed to the virus with no dying reported since Sunday.
The state has 3,293 energetic circumstances whereas 5,61,755 Covid sufferers have been declared recovered because the outbreak began a yr in the past. The discharge fee stands at 97.64 per cent.