Technical glitches mark Day 1; 1,127 vaccinated
Most hospitals were forced to conduct manual registration of senior citizens
AMRITSAR : Senior citizens and those between the ages of 45 and 60 stepped up to take covid-19 vaccine shot in Punjab on the first day of the second phase of vaccination drive in the country on Monday. Of 1,127 elderly inoculated with the vaccine at 192 hospitals across the state (both government and private), 970 were above 60, while remaining 157 were between 45 and 60.
Most senior citizens preferred taking free vaccine doses from government hospitals, instead of paying Rs 250 at private health centres.
Those above 60, or those above 45 with existing illnesses that make them more vulnerable to the viral disease are eligible to be inoculated in phase 2. Diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, or a history of conditions such as heart, lung, liver or kidney disorders etc are among the list of 20 co-morbidities for those between 45 and 60. Most hospitals were forced to conduct manual registration of senior citizens as the CO-WIN 2.0 app saw technical glitches. Health authorities also faced challenges in crowd management.
“On Monday, newly updated CO-WIN 2.0 app faced technical glitches and we faced challenges as Rs 250 payment was not being processed at the Centre’s CO-WIN website,” said state covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, adding that the state health department does not have data, at present, on how many beneficiaries took vaccine at private hospitals.amritsar civil surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh said, “We had to physically collect identification proofs and co-morbidities certificates, instead of uploading them directly on the app. Of 86 senior citizens inoculated in Amritsar on Monday, 95% preferred free doses at government hospitals.”
‘No adverse effects reported in senior citizens’
“All senior citizens were inoculated with Covishield and were kept under 30-minute observation at hospitals. None saw any adverse effect post-immunisation. Since the vaccine is safe for the most vulnerable category of getting infected with the virus, more people should take the jabs,” Dr Bhaskar added.
In Patiala, even as civil surgeon Dr Satinder Singh said that 13 centres had been set up, only 53 senior citizens were administered the vaccine. “Since health workers, frontline workers and the senior citizens will now get the vaccine shot simultaneously, we have decided to set up separate vaccine counters for senior citizens at government Rajindra Hospital,” Dr Satinder added.
In Jalandhar, 16 persons above 60 years got the jab. In Kapurthala, additional deputy commissioner (general) Rahul Chabha appealed to the people to come forward for vaccination and follow the guidelines of the health department.
District Programme Manager Dr Sukhwinder Kaur informed about Citizen Registration and Appointment for Vaccination on this occasion.
Central team lands in Punjab amid Covid surge CHANDIGARH : A central team led by joint secretary of Union health ministry, Mandeep Bhandari, on Monday landed in Punjab to take stock of the reasons behind surge in Covid-19 cases and make suggestions to contain the virus.
On Monday, Punjab recorded 18 deaths and 635 new coronavirus cases. Experts from PGIMER, Chandigarh — Dr Laxmi from the department of public health and Dr Ashutosh Aggarwal from department of pulmonology — are also part of the GOI team. The team will visit SBS Nagar district on Tuesday.
With Monday’s new cases took the state infection tally to 1,82,809, the bulletin said, a health department bulletin said. With 18 more fatalities, the toll rose to 5,850. The number of active cases also jumped from 4,632 on Sunday to 4,853. On Sunday, the state had seen 582 infections. Among the new cases, Kapurthala reported 133, Hoshiarpur 93 and Ludhiana 64.A total of 394 coronavirus patients were discharged, taking the number of those who recuperated to 1,72,106.