Around 15,707 vaccinated on opening day in Bengal; Mamata, Vijayvargiya indulge in wordy duel


PTI | Kolkata | Updated: 16-01-2021 23:16 IST | Created: 16-01-2021 23:16 IST
Around 15,707 vaccinated on opening day in Bengal; Mamata, Vijayvargiya indulge in wordy duel
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Around 15,707 people were administeredthe first dose of the anti-COVID 19 vaccine in West Bengal onthe opening day of the mega inoculation drive Saturday, evenas Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the opposition BJPtraded charges over the quantity of the jabs supplied to thestate by the centre.

A nurse in the city was hospitalised after she lostconsciousness post administration of Covishield as there were13 other AEFI (Adverse event following immunisation) casesreported from other parts of of the state, health departmentofficial said.

The 35-year-old nurse, who was administered the vaccineat the Dr B C Roy Post Graduate Institute of PaediatricSciences, complained of uneasiness and then fainted, he said.

She was rushed to nearby Nil Ratan Sircar Medical Collegeand Hospital (NRS) and admitted to the CCU,the official added.

Few incidents of glitches in Co-WIN, the digital platformat the heart of planning and implementing the vaccinationdrive, were reported, forcing the healthcare departmentofficials to keep a tab of the inoculation process manually.

Meanwhile, Banerjee expressed her dissatisfaction over''inadequate'' number of COVID-19 vaccines supplied to WestBengal for the inoculation process and said her government, ifneeded,would supply the vaccines free of cost to the people.

A political row erupted after several Trinamool Congressleaders, including two MLAs, were among the people whoreceived COVID-19 vaccine in Purba Bardhaman district, whilemany healthcare workers alleged that they could not get thejab though they were asked to come for it.

The COVID-19 vaccination drive began in West Bengal onSaturday morning, with a Group D staff Raja Chowdhury, at thestate-run SSKM hospital becoming the first person to receivethe first shot, a health department official said.

West Bengal minister of state for Labour and medicalpractitioners Nirmal Maji received the vaccine at the KolkataMedical College and Hospital, while the vaccination processwent on smoothly at other hospitals and Urban PrimaryHealthcare centre and five other private hospitals.

''None of the beneficiaries who received the vaccine hascomplained of any uneasiness. For all of them, we followed theset protocol and all left for home after being injected thefirst dose of Covishield,'' a Peerless Hospital official said.

Some cases of uneasiness after receiving the shots werereported rom Hooghly, Murshidabad,Diamond Harbour and Kolkata.

AEFI is any untoward medical occurrence followingimmunisation and might not have relation with the vaccinationprocess, health officials said.

According to the state government sources, around 15,707people have received the shots out of the scheduled 21,000beneficiaries on the first day.

''Probably those who did not turn up were apprehensive aboutthe efficacy. We are hopeful they may turn up on the next dayof the camp,'' an official said.

''The Co-WIN software did not work properly and we had tonote down everything manually.Our volunteer officers monitoredthe entire process very minutely and after taking down thedetails sent them to the health department,'' an official said.

The much-awaited vaccination drive too did not remainuntouched from the ongoing political mudslinging in the poll-bound Bengal, with Banerjee accusing the centre of sending alesser quantity of vaccines to the state.

Expressing her dissatisfaction over ''inadequate'' numberof COVID-19 vaccines supplied to West Bengal for theinoculation process,Banerjee said her government, if needed,would supply the vaccines free of cost to the people.

Banerjee, while interacting with the health and frontlineworkers over the phone, said she has already ''requested thecentral government to supply adequate numbers of vaccines fornot only the frontline workers but also for all the people ofWest Bengal''.

Reacting to the allegations, BJP national generalsecretary Kailash Vijayvargiya slammed Banerjee for making''baseless'' allegations and accused her of trying to politicisethe vaccination programme ahead of the assembly polls.

''She should stop politicising everything. None of thestates has complained only she is complaining about it. She istrying to politicize the issue before the assembly polls,''Vijayvargiya said He claimed that if the vaccines for the health workersfall short it is due to TMC leaders queuing up for the jabs.

Meanwhile, various TMC leaders including two MLAs,received COVID-19 vaccine in West Bengal's Purba Bardhamandistrict on Saturday, while many healthcare workers allegedthat they could not avail the jabs.

Two TMC MLAs Subhash Mondal and Rabindranath Chatterjee andformer TMC MLA Banamali Hazra were among the beneficiaries.

Chief Medical Officer of the district Pranab Roy said thepublic representatives who received the vaccines during theday are part of the Patient Welfare Committees at differenthospitals.

''Since they are associated with ensuring good services atthe hospitals, they are also eligible for the vaccine. Thereis nothing irregular in it,'' he said.

The TMC leadership said there was nothing wrong withleaders of his party getting the vaccine as they were COVIDsurvivors.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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