Around 1.60 lakh health workers in Punjab will receive a COVID-19 vaccine in the first phase, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said on Sunday.
Principal Secretary (Health) Hussan Lal said the data regarding 1.60 lakh healthcare workers have already been uploaded on the CoWin portal — an online platform for monitoring the delivery of COVID-19 vaccine.
Talking to reporters, the minister said, “…the vaccine which is coming will first be given to 1.60 lakh healthcare workers in the state.”
Giving details of the vaccination process, Lal said that after health workers, vaccine will be administered to around three lakh frontline workers, including policemen, paramilitary forces, sanitation workers and disaster management volunteers.
Thereafter, the Principal Secretary (Health) said, people above 50 years and those aged below 50 with co-morbid conditions will be covered under the inoculation drive.
To a question on the timeframe of the vaccination drive, Lal said it will depend upon the availability of vaccine.
He said the state has the capacity to administer 4 lakh vaccines in a day.
He further said that the state has around 4,000 trained vaccinators.
“If we get a large number of doses, then we can also use doctors, pharmacists, dental doctors and nurses as vaccinators, he said, adding that the state has enough storage capacity for COVID-19 vaccine.
A state-level vaccine store has been set up in Chandigarh, officials said.
Punjab has already conducted a dry run for vaccination in Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar.
The mock drill of the distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccine was being conducted in Patiala on Sunday.
Punjab has so far witnessed 1.67 lakh coronavirus cases and 5,364 deaths.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
