Chhattisgarh: Woman sanitation worker gets first vaccine dose

A 51-year-old woman sanitationworker at a government hospital was the first person to getthe coronavirus vaccine shot in Chhattisgarh after the launchof the nationwide inoculation drive on Saturday.

Health officials here said the vaccination began in 97centres across the state, after Prime Minister Narendra Modiformally inaugurated the drive from Delhi.

''Tulsa Tandi, a Swacchtakarmi (sanitation worker) atthe Dr B R Ambedkar Memorial Hospital Raipur since 2008, wasthe first person to get vaccinated in the state'', the statedirector for the National Health Mission Priyanka Shukla toldPTI.

Tandi was administered the Covishield vaccine at thelocal Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College, which is amongfive vaccination sites in Raipur district, she said addingthat drive is underway in all 28 districts in the state.

Around 2.67 lakh health workers and other frontlinestaff were registered to receive vaccine shots during thefirstphase of the drive in the state, said Shukla, who is also thestate nodal officer for coronavirus vaccination drive.

The other four vaccination centres in Raipur districtare All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Raipur,District hospital Pandri, NHMMI private hospital and Missionhospital Tilda.

Each vaccination centre has vaccinators, monitoringstaff, record examiners, and security personnel and a nodalofficer, another health official here said.

After the vaccination, beneficiaries will be kept inthe observation room for 30 minutes and in case they showadverse effects they will be immediately provided treatment atthe hospital, he said.

Altogether 100 beneficiaries are expected to beadministered vaccine at each centre daily, he said.

Chhattisgarh has received 3.23 lakh Covishield vaccinedoses from the Serum Institute of India as part of the firstconsignment for the vaccination drive, he said.

So far, 7,116 vaccinators have been given training forthe initial phase of the drive in the state, he said.