Many don't turn up as vaccination begins - Nearly 500 health workers vaccinated in Darjeeling; problems faced with Co-WIN software at several centres

SNS, SILIGURI, 16 JANUARY 21 :  The much awaited Covid-19 vaccination drive began in districts in north Bengal today.

In Darjeeling district, health department officials said 498 healthcare workers from five places were administered the shots.Sources said the process was conducted manually at four vaccination sites as the Covid-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network application (Co-Win), a digital platform developed by the Centre for Covid vaccination across the country, failed to work. The Co-Win app, however, functioned at the Kharibari Rural Hospital, one of the vaccination centres in the district.

It is learnt that some healthcare workers shortlisted for the vacination did not turn up, while others whose names did not figure in the lists were given the vaccine in their place. The same triggered speculations that a section of healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, doubted the efficacy of the Covishield vaccine, and feared its possible side effects.

The drive began at five health facilities in Darjeeling district--North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH), Siliguri District Hospital, Kharibari Rural Hospital in the Plains, and the Darjeeling District Hospital and the Kurseong Sub Divisional Hospital in the Hills--at 10.30 am and continued till 4 pm. The number of beneficiaries from each site was fixed at 100, but 98 persons received the shots at the NBMCH, it is learnt.

"The vaccination programme was conducted successfully today," said Darjeeling district chief medical officer of health (CMOH) Dr Pralay Acharya.

Police personnel were, meanwhile, deployed outside the centres.

"Some health workers stayed away from the vaccination at the NBMCH. They may be apprehending that the vaceine may have side effects" said a senior doctor at the NBMCH.

Covishield is the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, manufactured in India by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India. It has been approved on the basis of safety, immunogenicity and efficacy studies in the other countries.

"There was no report of any side effect among the recipients today. Some cliniical trials of the vaccine have been conducted: The government has asserted that the vaccine is safe and generates immune responses.The vaccine efficacy rate is likely to be up to 80 percent," said the head of the department of community medicine at the NBMCH, Dr Gautam Dhar, who supervised the vaccination programme at the NBMCH.

Sources said the mobile application failed to open at four sites due to server problems. "It only worked at the Kharibari Rural Hospital," they said.

Patient welfare committee chairman of the NBMCH Dr Rudranath Bhattacharya was the first recipient of the vaccine at t he NBMCH, while a private ambulance operator at the Siigurri District Hospital received the first vaccine shot there.

Many doctors who were vaccinated said they were positive about the vaccine.

"Everyone should go for the vaccination. It may open a new chapter in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic," said the associate professor of pathology at the NBMCH and Covid Care Network coordinator Dr Kalyan Khan.

An ENT doctor at the Siliguri District Hospital, Dr Richard Narjinary who has been on the forefront, collecting swabs from Covid-19 patients, however, had a word of caution for all and said people should still stick to the Covid-19-appropriate behaviour.

According to the in-charge of the Covid-19 laboratory at the Virus Research & Diagnostic Laboratory at the NBMCH, Dr Santanu Hazra, today could be the beginning of a new phase in the battle against Covid-19. "We were all waiting for the vaccine. Now, it seems the vaccine is our weapon and we should go for it," Dr Hazra said.