Punjab receives 20,450 vials of Covishield; set to launch drive to vaccinate Health Care Workers from Jan 16

With the arrival of 20,450 vials of the COVID-19 vaccine Covishield on Tuesday at Chandigarh, the Punjab Government is all set to vaccinate Health Care Workers (HCWs) at 110 sites on January 16.

The 20,450 vials (each vial has 10 doses of vaccines) would be given to the beneficiary in two doses 28 days apart.

The state Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the first batch of Covishield was received by the EPI Officer of Health and Family Welfare Department, Punjab at Chandigarh Airport.

Covishield vaccine was developed by Oxford University with AstraZeneca and is being manufactured in India by the Serum Institute. Data of its Phase III trials is available and it has been given Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

The Minister said that five vaccination sites in each district have been selected for the vaccination where 100 beneficiaries will be allocated at each site. He said that proceedings at two session sites, at District Hospital, SAS Nagar, and GMC, Amritsar, will be live-streamed/webcast with the Union government.

The vaccine has been stored at State Vaccine Store, Sector-24, Chandigarh, and it would be made available at Regional, District and Block vaccine stores as per SOPs set by the Union government.

Every vaccination session will be managed by a five-member team with defined responsibilities: the first vaccination officer (VO) will be stationed at the entrance to ensure that only eligible vaccinators enter the site; the second VO will verify beneficiaries on CoWIN; the third VO will administer the vaccine as an intramuscular injection; the fourth VO will be deputed at the observation room to monitor any AEFI (Adverse Event Following Immunization) and the fifth VO would mobilize and assist in crowd control.

In addition, team Supervisors and AEFI Management Center with Nodal Officers will be deputed for smooth run of the vaccination program, he informed.