LUCKNOW: Eight months since the start of the mass immunisation campaign in January, the health department in Lucknow has now been able to inoculate almost the entire healthcare community with at least a shot of the vaccine, while 78% have been fully vaccinated.
The target was to fully vaccinate all healthcare workers in Lucknow by March this year. There are about 79,000 healthcare workers in various government and private medical facilities. Of these 40% are women.
"Healthcare workers have been at the forefront of the fight against Covid pandemic. They have a dual responsibility of protecting themselves and the public. For this, they need to set an example for the general public by getting themselves fully vaccinated and follow covid appropriate behaviour.-TimesView"
The vaccination of the healthcare staff started on January 16.
However, according to data available at the chief medical officer’s office, till date, 78,509 (99.3%) have received at least a vaccine shot.
A further break-up shows that 62,267 (78.8%) have completed the two-dose course, while around 16,242 beneficiaries have taken a dose and are waiting for the gap period to end to take the second. CMO spokesperson Yogesh Raghuvanshi said that almost all the healthcare workers have been vaccinated and most of those still left are ineligible because of certain health issues.
The delay in vaccination of healthcare workers was caused because many employees of private hospitals did not register themselves initially. Later, new recruitments and those transferred to Lucknow from other districts were added. The final count reached 79,000 in July.
Experts opined that the health department should push the drive further and inoculate healthcare workers waiting for a second dose as early as possible.
Former head of the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences-BHU, Prof Anil Kumar Gulati, said, “Full vaccination will provide healthcare workers protection while tackling the probable third Covid-19 wave.” However, he added, healthcare workers will have to continue to follow Covid protocols even after being fully vaccinated.
