The Visakhapatnam district administration has taken the lead to vaccinate its 47-lakh population with the Union Government asking the State government to prepare a roadmap for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Acting on instructions from the State Health Department, authorities constituted a 16-member committee with District Collector V. Vinay Chand acting as its chairperson.
The other members of the committee include the District Immunisation Officer, who will be the member-convener, principal of Andhra Medical College, Superintendent of King George Hospital, the District Medical & Health Officer, the District Education Officer, Commissioners of GVMC and VMRDA, a senior officer from the city and district police, a minority welfare officer, the local WHO representative, and representatives from UNICEF and UNDP.
Roadmap
It is learnt that the State government is in talks with the Union Government, and if everything falls in place, the district administration will begin the vaccination programme around Sankranti in January, 2021.
To begin with, the district administration will administer the vaccine to the 60,000 health workers who have been identified and listed, in the first phase.
In the second phase, the vaccines will be give to other frontline health workers such as staff from the GVMC, Revenue Department, sanitisation staff and Police Department.
Under this list, the district administration has already listed about 2 lakh names and another 8 lakhs have been listed under 50 plus age category with co-morbidities, for the third phase.
Once these lists are covered, plans will be made to vaccinate the remaining 47 population, said Andhra Medical College Principal and District COVID Special Officer Dr. P.V. Sudhakar.
Cold chain
District Immunisation Officer Dr. Jeevan Rani said that a 16.5 cubic metre refrigerator is already operational at the department and another 40 cubic metre refrigerator has been constructed for the purpose.
Both combined, we will be storing at least one lakh vaccines at any given time, she said.
The challenge is transporting the vaccines to remote and rural areas.
But according to Dr. Sudhakar, this should not deter the vaccination plans as the immunisation department is already experienced in handling vaccination programmes, as they have been giving various vaccines such as polio and DPT even in remote areas.
Sources in the immunisation department said that the vaccines will be frozen and sent in refrigerated containers or boxes by the Central Government, and they will be stored in the immunisation department before being dispatched.
According to Dr. Sudhakar, Moderna vaccine is frozen at minus 200 C, but they can be stored for 30 days in a refrigerator at 2 to 80 C.
Apart from having counters at the department, health workers will be carrying mobile refrigerated boxes and will be on the move to different areas.
But the challenge here is to identify new routes and employ more vehicles and vaccinators, as the vaccine needs to be administered to a large number of people across a vast and diverse geographical area within a short period, said Dr. Sudhakar.
