Poor turnout of HCWs in 2nd phase of inoculation
New Delhi: The second phase of Covid-19 vaccination drive kicked off in national Capital saw a poor turnout of healthcare workers with state officials citing "poor communication" with the enlisted people as the reason. However, by the end of October the city will see private health care facilities participating in the drive in large numbers the details of which are still being worked out, according to officials in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW).
On Wednesday, the vaccination drive saw very few turning up to take the jab due to communication errors. At Maulana Azad medical College only 29 frontline workers and 12 healthcare workers came for the shot till late Thursday. "Some police personnels and workers from the DM office came as part of the second drive," Keshav, a resident doctor said.
"Several people were not informed and did not see the Co-WIN app hence we decided to call up people individually that way we can expect a better turn out," an official monitoring booth calls said. "As per the GOI strategy we also need to talk to people from the booth after the list comes out," the official added.
The vaccination drive cannot continue with "one after the other phase" a multi
pronged approach has to be adopted if the government wants to vaccinate the entire population, an official from at the MOHFW told Millennium Post.
Opening up the doors to private facilities is the next step which is being worked on and by end of the month the process will start, the official said. "Even though it is largely monitored by the Central Government the vaccination should be opened up for private
individuals as well if the drive is to be successful by roping in the private sector," an official from the State Health Department said.
The Arvind Kejriwal government which has promised people of free vaccines is also looking at using private Healthcare facilities. "Either the government will utilise their (private health facilities) space or manpower," the official said adding that another option is also being looked at wherein the state government will provide the vaccine to the private facilities and those who opt to go there may be charged "a reasonable consultation fee." However, vaccines will be free at government run facilities, he assured.
Meanwhile, nearly 9,500 healthcare workers received COVID-19 vaccine shots in Delhi on Thursday in the third week of the inoculation drive, with a turnout of more than 51 per cent. After a sluggish start, since the exercise was kicked off on January 16, the inoculation drive had picked up pace in the last several days. The targeted number for vaccination on February 4 was 18,300, officials said.
Delhi recorded 158 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, pushing the tally to 6,35,639, while the positivity rate slipped to 0.24 per cent, authorities said. These new cases came out of the 67,234 tests conducted the previous day.
The positivity rate stood at 0.24 per cent, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.
