GUWAHATI: The Assam government has come up with a new strategy on the lines of the ‘Chennai Model’ to vaccinate all individuals above 60 years by creating ‘Near to Home Covid Vaccination Centres’ (NHCVC).
Even after including senior citizens in the priority age group, the average national coverage for this group was only 42% till May 15.
Assam is mulling over innovative strategies like the one adopted by the Greater Chennai Corporation where each zone has been allotted two to four vehicles for transportation of the beneficiaries (differently-abled).
“The beneficiary can be linked to a helpline number to avail the support for pickup and drop to NHCVC,” the state health department SOP published on Monday said.
“The elderly usually have high incidence of co-morbid conditions, making them more vulnerable to morbidity and mortality due to Covid-19 infection and its complications.
There is a need to vaccinate the most vulnerable population (elderly and the differently-abled), who may be left behind because of inability to travel to Covid-19 Vaccination Centres (CVC), thus ensuring equitable access to vaccines,” it added.
As per the recommendations of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), besides health care workers (hcws) and front-line workers (FLWs), the prioritized group of beneficiaries for Covid-19 vaccination has been expanded to cover the general population aged 45 years and above from April 1.
The population aged above 60 years (senior citizens) are already included in prioritized age group for Covid-19 vaccination since March 1, but, a huge chunk of this group still remains out of the purview.
A large section, especially from the non-affluent section, and the unlettered from the backward villages, are clueless about the process of vaccination.
Even though the second wave curve may flatten in the state soon, the health department continues to face a challenging task ahead.
TOI tried to contact several top officials of the health department on the readiness to accelerate the drive but could not get any response.
The proposed strategy for NHCVC, as stated in the SOP, stated that a community-based approach can be followed where sessions can be conducted in non-health facility-based settings near home.
These may be community centres, panchayat houses, school buildings and old age homes.
The SOP said that deployment of trained human resources to provide vaccination services in an ‘overstretched health system’ needs to be planned meticulously along with the identification of appropriate sites for vaccination that meets the criteria for quality vaccination as per the guidelines.
This includes a proper waiting area and observation rooms, though considering the floods looming large over the state such a smooth drive is going to be a difficult task in the flood-prone areas.
The health department proposed that the District Task Force (DTF) may involve non-government organizations (NGO) in the district for taking the initiative and implementation of vaccinations for the elderly and differently-abled citizens.
Once identified and verified for meeting CVC criteria, all such sites will be registered on the Co-WlN portal as NHCVC.
Each team at NHCVC will comprise five members-one team leader who is a doctor, vaccinator, one vaccination officer for Co-WIN registration and verification of the beneficiary.
The vaccination officer-2 and 3 will be there for crowd control and assistance to the vaccinator, ensuring a 30-minute observation of beneficiaries following vaccination for any AEFI or other support.
Apprehensions have been expressed that many of the senior citizens and individuals with special needs may not be able to receive the doses of Covid-19 vaccine due to inability to travel to a Covid Vaccination Centre.
“To ensure vaccination of senior citizens and differently-abled people with limited mobility due to their physical condition, there is need to increase access by bringing vaccination services closer to the community and nearer to homes while maintaining all necessary precautions and safety measures, as per Operational Guidelines and Advisories issued from time to time,” the SOP said.