KOLKATA: Acting on a state health department advisory, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to include mothers in the super-spreader group, vaccinating them on a priority basis ahead of a projected third Covid wave.
KMC will search data of such mothers from its child immunization programmes that are being regularly held across 144 wards.
“We need to compile the child immunization data ward-wise from our urban primary health clinics.
This will help us identify the number of recipients.
This apart, we may also take help of our health workers who visit households to administer vaccine doses,” said a KMC health department senior official.
The civic official said the KMC health department was prioritizing mothers who are engaged in the construction industry.
“This group is highly vulnerable and hence needs to be brought under our Covid-19 vaccination programme,” the official said.
A campaign has been planned to let this group of women know that they are now in the priority group and can get the jab free of cost from the KMC vaccination centres.
Sources said there will be announcements made across localities to spread awareness.
Doctors attached with the vaccination centres have been intimated about the state government’s decision to inoculate them on a priority basis.
“Currently, there are about 194 KMC vaccination centres in the city operated.
These newly included prioritized mothers who have children up to the age of 12 can approach any of these centres to take the vaccine,” said Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen, health advisor to the KMC’s board of governors.
According to doctors, this strategy, known as cocoon vaccination, will go a long way to protect children who are likely to be the most vulnerable in the third wave.
No vaccine for children has been approved in India while those under clinical trial are for children aged between 12 and 18 years.
So, even if a vaccine for children is rolled out before the third wave, children below 12 years will still have to wait for an age-specific vaccine for them.
The number of KMC vaccination clinics has also gone up to handle the pressure of the third wave.
According to a KMC health official, before any such wave hits the city, they will ensure mass vaccination of mothers.