1 crore and 3 lakh adults administered COVID-19 vaccine in Uttar Pradesh
New Delhi: Battling an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases, health officials working in Uttar Pradesh shared that the state has so far vaccinated over 1.3 crore adults with the COVID-19 vaccine.
Prof. Amita Jain, renowned microbiologist at King George’s Medical University Lucknow, opined that the old strategy of ‘Test, Trace and Treat’ is not very effective now, and that the government must focus on increasing number of hospital beds instead. These thoughts were discussed by experts in a webinar hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health – India Research Center and Project SANCHAR on Friday.
Titled as ‘COVIDー19 vaccine roll out in Uttar Pradesh: Challenges and Opportunities’, the webinar featured Dr. Ajay Ghai, State Immunization Officer, Uttar Pradesh, Dr. Manoj Kumar Shukul, General Manager – Routine Immunization, National Health Mission, Uttar Pradesh; Prof. Amita Jain, Prof. & HoD – Microbiology, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow and Prof. Zeeba-Zaka-Ur-Rab, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Aligarh Muslim University.
Dr. Ajay Ghai, State Immunization Officer stated that “Uttar Pradesh has successfully administered 1.3 crore COVID-19 vaccination so far. While Lucknow was impressively administering anywhere between 15,000-20,000 doses per day before the second wave, the pandemic’s second wave has shifted health department’s focus equally towards COVID-19 control measures, owing to which some delay has been caused in the vaccination drive.” He added that vaccination targets set by population to be vaccinated and by vaccine availability. If people do not register on the Co-Win portal, it becomes difficult for health workers to assess how many doses would be required per day. Every district in UP has a dedicated district van which works overnight to ensure adequate supply in the farthest corners of the state.
Dr. Manoj Kumar Shukul, General Manager – Routine Immunization, stated that “During the Tika Utsav marked from April 11 to April 13, 14,55,900 adults were vaccinated in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, Covaxin was available as 20 dose vials which led to wastage as vials needed to be used in less than four hours. But now that even Covaxin comes packaged in 10 dose vials similar to Covishiled, there is very less vaccine wastage.”
On vaccine hesitancy in Uttar Pradesh, Prof. Zeeba-Zaka-Ur-Rab, Department of Pediatrics at Aligarh Muslim University, stated that “Scientists predicted that as vaccine rollout increased, hesitancy would decrease (through word-of-mouth). In the beginning of the vaccine drive, several health and frontline workers were hesitant to take the vaccine, but with time as vaccines were seen to effectively fight conditions of serious illness from COVID-19, the uptake of the vaccine skyrocketed. It is now seen as one of the most important tools to fight infection.”
Stating that people must not fear Adverse Effects Following Immunization (AEFI), Dr. Ajay Ghai informed that “Every adult is being given two tablets of paracetamol in Uttar Pradesh to treat body aches and fever. Some immediate side effects were observed post vaccination such as fainting etc, this was due to the initial psychological fear of vaccines that was prevalent in the early. Delayed side effects of the vaccine such as fever, body ache etc. are an expected reaction of the body.”
Prof. Amita Jain said that booster shots of any vaccine are important to make sure that the vaccine continues to fight infection. “While the measles vaccine does not require any booster shot, it is preferred that people get a second shot of the tetanus vaccine after 10 years or so. Since COVID-19 is a new and emerging virus, for now the world is taking only 2 doses but, in the future, the need for more vaccine shots also may be discovered. Given the rapid rise in COVID-19 case positivity, the earlier policy on ‘Test, trace, treat’ might not be a very successful strategy to follow now. Contact tracing is difficult and not required at this moment, instead the government must focus on increasing the number of hospital beds at this point.”
